Universal Vampire
by Mabel Marsters
Summary: Initiative based story. Set post season six, before season seven but with some changes to the course of events up to then,more details top of chapter one. WINNER OF THE ECSTASY AWARD - JUDGE'S CHOICE AT THE FORBIDDEN AWARDS ROUND 8
1. A Typical Day

Chapter One

Chapter One

A Typical Day

The lights came on as they did every morning at six A.M., flooding the place with bright florescent light, taking over from the dim lighting of the night. The place was never in total darkness.

Those with hearts capable of beating started beating faster, knowing that it wouldn't be long before the days 'patients' were selected for their examinations and procedures. The place was eerily quiet.

Two men walked down in front of a row of glass fronted cells pushing a metal gurney. It was like a hospital trolley, but unlike a hospital trolley, it was completely bare of mattress and blankets, its shining metal surface held only several strong straps.

They stopped outside of one of the cells about a third of the way down the row. A pair of yellow eyes looked up as they approached. The men pushed a button on the console outside the cell's door. Immediately the cell began to fill with gas, billowing in rapidly through vents in the floor, walls and ceiling. The creature in the cell looked round furtively, trying to find a way to escape the gas. It was impossible; the cloud soon enveloped its naked body. Merely seconds afterwards, it convulsed violently then lay still. Pressing another button vented the cell and made it safe for the men to enter. They lifted the unconscious body onto the gurney, using thick latex gloves in case any residue of gas remained on the creature's skin. It worked on skin contact, not by being breathed in. It had been developed because too many of the subjects it was needed for didn't actually have a physiological need for air and so couldn't absorb it via the respiratory system.

The men closed the cell door and pushed the gurney to the operating room.

"Wonder what she's got in mind for her old favourite today?" said a rather short, stocky man with flattish facial features, giving him the look of a boxer.

"Not sure. Something unpleasant, no doubt," said the other, a taller slimmer man, with a grin. "Is there anything left that she hasn't tried on it before?"

"It's been here a year more or less so there must be something special about it. Never known one of its kind to last so long," replied the first man.

They reached the operating room. That was a misnomer really, it was more like operating rooms as it was made up of several different sealed areas - some just like the cells the creatures were held in, some were like traditional operating rooms, yet more were filled with such strange apparatus that if you didn't know what it was for, you were inclined not to ask as some things are better not known.

They wheeled the gurney into one of the operating theatre cubicles. Professor Maggie Walsh was waiting for them.

"Ah, gentlemen, put it on the table, please, and strap it down well."

They lifted the limp body of the creature from the gurney and onto the operating table. It didn't take much effort. The creature was about five feet ten inches tall but its slightly built frame was almost skeletal - it was so thin. Some of these creatures didn't seem to thrive in captivity and the various tests and experiments it had endured had left their mark.

It was strapped down on the table at the ankles, knees, waist, wrist and shoulders. Its head was held securely in a brace to ensure no movement was possible once the creature woke up.

Maggie looked down at her specimen. She had learnt so much from the study of this one. It was so much more resilient than the others of its kind had been. It looked for all intents and purposes like a man but for the demonic features of its face - eyes yellow, brow and nose ridged, teeth sharp and pointed.

_"Yes,"_ thought Maggie. _"It is easy to see why vampires are such successful demon -, inhabiting a human body, only triggering the change to vampiric features when feeding or in a stressful situation like a fight."  
_  
This one had had the feeling of stress and fear triggered by a chip implanted in its brain. For the past month, the creature had had the permanent feeling of imminent danger and paranoia coursing through its mind from the chip. The result of this was for the past month the creature hadn't deviated from its demonic visage and its body had been subject to the changes this caused, an increase in the need for blood to eat being one of them. However, the paranoia they also introduced meant that it wouldn't touch any of the blood offered in the first week so for the next three none was offered. Nor had it slept for more than a few minutes at a time. The ravages this had done to its body were plain to see in the acute weight loss.

Maggie reached for the clippers hung at the side of the table and carefully shaved the creature's hair from its head, the last month's growth of sandy brown hair falling to the floor. She swabbed the area at the back of the head that marked the site of the chip. She reached for the probe attached to the computer and placed it against the vampires scalp. As she did so, she noticed that its hands were moving, fists clenching and unclenching.

"Oh dear, as usual you've fought off the drugs too quickly," she said, knowing the creature could hear her. "That's a shame, as I'm afraid this will hurt quite a bit, Number Seventeen."

The yellow eyes opened but couldn't see Maggie as she was standing behind its head. She slowly inserted the probe through a small opening left by the removal of a dime- sized piece of skull and into the chip embedded in the brain. Seventeen thrashed wildly in its restraints as the pain in its head exploded. Its head was kept perfectly still by the brace.

"Just a couple of minutes more," said Maggie, the words spoken to herself - not as a reassurance to the vampire.

"That's it." She slowly withdrew the probe. "Any second now I should see…there, yes, that's worked beautifully."

As she looked at the vampire its face began to change. The features smoothed out, teeth receded, and eyes changed from yellow to blue. Now the vampire looked wholly human again. Its cheekbones jutted out above painfully hollow cheeks but she could see that it had once been a handsome man. Not feeding for a month had caused a deterioration in its appearance with the eyes sunken and dull.

She walked round to the front of the table so the vampire could see her. Its blue eyes followed her as she came into view. Its mouth moved but no sound was emitted. One of the first things they do at the Initiative on capture is render the creatures they capture mute, making for a much more peaceful workplace.

The chips embedded in the brains of their 'patients' were the fourth generation of the old type of implant they used in the early days. Those just triggered pain if the creature went to attack a human. These allowed you to do pretty well anything to them that you wanted to do. The development of the probe's ability to reprogram the chip for new tests had been a major breakthrough.

She pressed a button on the wall indicating that Seventeen be transported to one of the testing chambers. The two men who'd brought it down appeared in the doorway.

"I'll just knock it out for you," said Maggie. She reinserted the probe and with a push of a button on what looked remarkably like a TV remote control Seventeen went limp.

The men strapped it onto the gurney, still fastening the straps even though it was only a short distance, learning from experience to expect the unexpected. They took it to one of the bare cell-like rooms in that section. They took it off the gurney and laid it on the floor. Maggie Walsh followed them and watched as a few moments later the vampire woke up.

Seventeen looked around, eyes lighting on Professor Walsh. He fixed her with a baleful stare and stood up. Any discomfort at being naked in front of her was long gone, as he hadn't been allowed clothes since his capture.

Maggie had been amused that it had been embarrassed by its nakedness at the start, just as a human would have been.

"Time to see how you cope without being able to draw on your demonic features or enhanced abilities," she said as the program she'd devised began.

A slot opened in the ceiling of the cell and a bag of blood fell through it, landing at Seventeen's feet. He stepped back a couple of paces and looked at it suspiciously. His stomach growled with hunger. It was the first food he had been offered in three weeks, but he still didn't go to get it, knowing from past experience that rushing in usually ended badly. He glanced at Maggie who was still watching. He could read nothing in her expression. Finally, hunger won and he snatched the bag from the floor, bringing it to his lips. He hesitated as he felt no change to his features. He bit into the corner of the bag but without his razor sharp vampire teeth, he struggled to make a hole in it. When he finally did, the bag ripped open spilling more than half its contents over him and the floor. As he desperately tried to drink the remainder before it too was lost, he caught sight of Professor Walsh, who was smiling at his efforts. Anger burned through him for a second before the chip activated and he fell to the floor holding his head, the pain almost unbearable.

"Now, now, Number Seventeen, no thoughts like that allowed," said Professor Walsh, delighted that the chip was now so sensitive it activated on a thought of anger or violence.

The pain subsided and Seventeen once more became aware of his surroundings. The precious blood of which he'd barely managed to take a mouthful was all over the floor and himself. He started to lick it off his hands and pathetically try to scoop a little more up from the floor, when suddenly water poured into the cell via a sprinkler system. It was such a strong flow that before he could react, the blood he craved had been washed down the central drain. Rage once more came to the fore but again the chip sent pain searing through his head. He fell to the floor and curled up in a ball, head in his hands.

To be continued…….


	2. Discovery

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Discovery

Three weeks later…

Maggie Walsh marched through the Initiative to the operating rooms.

"I understand we have a development in Number Seventeen?" she barked as soon as she saw her assistant, a fat balding middle-aged man.

"Yes, professor. I think we have finally broken it," he replied. "Come see for yourself."

They walked round to the cell containing Seventeen. He was huddled in a corner staring straight ahead but his eyes were unfocussed.

"It stopped responding to anything at 03.47 precisely. Since then it's just sitting there like that."

"What was the last task it completed?" asked Maggie, wondering what had finally pushed it over the edge after resisting for so long.

"It had been very slow to react to the last three tasks. It had taken two hours to kill the Noawla demon we dropped in with it. Last month, in permanent vampire mode, it dispatched the creature in less than fifteen minutes. This time it wasn't until the creature had taken several severe chunks out of it that it reacted at all, then the anger sensor kicked in and the pain made it back off again until it the next time it was bitten."

"So without anger as its basis for its fight it couldn't fight back?"

"No, the pain in its head made it not do anything until it was bitten again and had to react," said the assistant. "It hasn't gotten any more adept at opening the bags of blood without its fangs so it has been getting very little nourishment, with most spilling and being washed away. We then opened the hatch and offered a bowl of blood. It reached for it after a few moments hesitation, but when it was hit with the electric shock, that was it. It didn't try again, just sat down. As you can see, it's also ignored the last bag of blood too. It's still on the floor."

"We'll get it on the table and give it back its ability to show its vampiric features and use its enhanced strength and see if that changes anything," said Maggie.

A button was pressed and the sedative gas whirled its way into the cell. Seventeen fell onto his side, twitched a couple of times, and lay limp.

Once on the operating table Maggie waited until the vampire was conscious before inserting the probe. The pain of insertion only made a couple of fingers twitch, the vampire not reacting to the pain. Once she'd removed the chip's message that suppressed the vampiric features and strength she took a scalpel blade and walked round to face Seventeen. She slapped his face to make him focus on her. Then she slowly and deliberately ran the scalpel over the skin of his chest, cutting to a depth of about a quarter of an inch. Although he tensed slightly at the touch of the blade, the features didn't change. He was totally submissive, accepting what was happening without question.

It had taken a long time to get Seventeen to this stage but finally they had. She reinserted the probe, tapped on the computer keyboard then removed the probe.

"Michael, make sure you have the crossbow at the ready. Lets see if this works better than it has in the past," said Maggie.

Once Michael was in place, she unfastened the restraints and took a step back. "Ready?"

"Ready," replied Michael.

"Number Seventeen," she said.

The vampire looked at her.

"Sit up."

Without hesitation he pushed himself up until he was sitting, facing her with legs dangling down, and feet not quite reaching the floor.

"Get off the table and stand up," she ordered.

He did.

Maggie and Michael exchanged excited looks - so far so good.

"Walk to your holding cell."

He'd never been along these corridors conscious but had the route programmed into the chip. Without hesitation Seventeen walked out of the room and steadily along to his cell. He stood and waited for further instructions.

"Hold this." Maggie handed the vampire a wooden cross.

He took it in his left hand and held it despite his skin immediately starting to smoke, then burn, then char.

"Let go of it," she ordered.

He opened his hand and the cross dropped to the floor taking a few pieces of his burnt flesh with it. At no point had he vamped out, a normal reaction to pain.

"Okay, in you go," said Maggie and she opened the door. He calmly walked in and turned to face them through the glass.

"Right. Michael, get some blood in there and I want to see if it gets its vampiric features out to open the bag."

The hatch in the ceiling opened in response to Michael pushing a button and a bag of blood fell in.

"Eat it and you will eat any other bags you are offered in this cell," ordered Maggie.

Seventeen picked up the bag in his undamaged right hand and brought it to his lips. His features changed and he neatly pierced a hole and drank the blood without spilling a drop. As soon as he finished his features turned human again.

"Excellent - only using the vampiric features to feed. We'll try him in combat soon but in the meantime let's feed him up a bit. The next time that he's fed order him to turn his head away from any humans present. Let's get him to hide those demonic features when they're on show," said Maggie.

He was the first subject to survive the training, the others had either died during the trials leading up to it or had gone berserk and had to be staked afterwards. She'd always had high hopes for Seventeen and had been delighted when they'd recaptured him a year ago.

Oooooooo

Over the next three days, Seventeen was pitted against a variety of creatures and had defeated them all without once showing its demonic features. The chip hadn't fired so the vampire had been working coldly and methodically, not fuelled with rage. Exactly what the government wanted - an efficient, obedient killing machine that could blend in with humans at all times. Apart from when he fed, Seventeen's features remained human.

The only thing that bothered Maggie about Seventeen was that he was left handed and preferred to hit with that hand. Even when carrying an injury like the burn from the cross he still used it the most. She worried this could lead to problems in combat so she needed him to be ambidextrous. It was an easy fix. A little reprogramming via the probe and the chip interrupted the signals to the nerves of his left arm and it became useless to him, paralysed, until she removed the block. A month or so like that and he'd learn to use his right hand more effectively. She was delighted at how the technology allowed her to do such things.

There had been a slight moment of worry when Seventeen had come around after the procedure and had tried to use his left hand to push himself up. When it hadn't responded he'd panicked for a time, pushing himself backwards with his legs until his back was against the wall, looking around the cell frantically. When he realised he was alone he calmed down, stood up using his right hand and just ignored his left arm's lack of use.

"It probably thought that it's been injured in a fight," said Michael, "since it's fought so many in the past few days."

"Yes. I think you're right," agreed Maggie, "We'll leave it for the rest of the day then see how it gets on fighting one-handed tomorrow."

As they walked away from the cell, Seventeen sat down in a corner at the back of the cell. He lifted his left hand up with his right and placed it on his lap, turning it over and looking at it in puzzlement.

Oooooooo

"Buffy, are you ready? It's time to go!" Giles shouted up the stairs of the house on Revello Drive.

"Yeah, I'm coming. Don't sweat it," called Buffy, running down to meet him. "We've got plenty of time."

"That might be the case but you know how Maggie Walsh is if she gets held up, and this time she's going to let us see more of the work they're doing than ever before," said Giles.

"I know. About time too after all the help we've given her and all the testing she's done with me," said Buffy, recalling the scenarios she'd worked through with Riley and his squad when she first revealed she was the Slayer.

"Yes, it will be interesting to find out what they're doing now. Spike's pain chip was put in a quite few years ago," said Giles.

"Mm," said Buffy, a stab of pain running through her when Giles spoke Spike's name. She'd treated him so badly, refusing to tell of their relationship and finally ending it. He'd left that night, leaving no word behind of where he'd gone, his crypt abandoned. She couldn't believe he'd been gone over a year. She hadn't realised how much she'd really loved him until it was too late. She tried to find him the next day to tell him she loved him and wanted to be with him but he'd already gone.

"Buffy," said Giles, breaking her reverie.

"Huh?"

"Shall we go then?"

"Oh, okay. Yes, I'm ready," said Buffy, pushing thoughts of Spike from her mind.

They got into Giles little red sports car and went to the Initiative.

Ooooooooo

"Number Seventeen."

The vampire stood up when he heard the voice as his conditioning dictated.

"Go to testing room two," ordered Michael.

Seventeen walked quietly into the room where to date he'd fought and killed eight different species of demon, his left arm hanging limp at his side. Once inside a door on the opposite side opened and a demon came in. It wasn't particularly large or tough and Seventeen had easily dispatched one before but admittedly both arms were functional then.

Maggie Walsh was watching closely, wanting to see how the vampire coped with its handicap. It could mirror an injury it may sustain in the field and so this was a valid test in her eyes.

Number Seventeen didn't hesitate to engage the demon in the fight, and apart from once looking at his left arm in frustration when he'd got the demon pined down but couldn't break its neck without two hands, the vampire quickly adapted, putting his legs around the demon's neck, twisting his hips and killing it. Once finished he stood up and waited to be let out of the room. He was panting hard and had taken more punishment than before, his body covered in cuts and bruises.

Maggie gave the order for him to be taken back to his cell and fed. It always amused her to see vampires when they panted as the breaths they took were totally unnecessary to them, it was just the body's reaction to exertion.

"The visitors have arrived." A soldier popped up at Maggie's side to tell her.

She glanced at her watch. "Good, they're on time." And she walked away to greet them.

Before Seventeen was put back in his cell his wounds were cleaned and sterilised. Although his vampiric enhanced healing would mean they would heal quickly, he was considered an important commodity to the Initiative so no risks were taken.

He sat down with his back to the wall, knees drawn up to his chin, his body aching from the fight.

Oooooooo

Ah, Mr. Giles, Buffy, welcome back to the Initiative," said Maggie Walsh, extending her hand.

"Right then, we'll get started on the tour." And without further ado, she led them away to show them around.

Seventeen opened his eyes as he heard the two bags of blood hit the floor in the centre of the cell. He knew he had no reason to fear any tricks with his food after a fight so he crawled over to get them. Even if he had suspected it was tainted he would have had to drink it as he'd been ordered to eat whatever was offered. He sat with his back to the glass wall at the front of the cell, conditioned to hide his vampiric face from view. He heard people approaching but was intent on having his meal and didn't look around.

"Um……er…..why are the vampires naked?" asked Buffy, trying to avert her eyes from several sights she'd rather not have seen.

"We do it so that they are on the same level as the less humanoid demons. To wear clothes is to elevate them to our level," said Maggie.

"But surely a pair of underpants wouldn't hurt?" said Giles.

"Oh, you'd be surprised how quickly they adapt to it. It proves they are beneath us, merely animals in a human body," said Maggie.

"Um, ok," said Buffy. "But vampires are as intelligent as the person they were before they were sired."

"I disagree with that completely. They're demons; they are not on our plane."

Giles and Buffy raised their eyebrows at her adamant words.

"It's awfully quiet in here," said Giles. "Is every cell soundproofed?"

"Oh, no," said Maggie. "We couldn't waste such a large amount of the budget on that. It's much more cost effective to render them mute."

"Good Lord," exclaimed Giles. "That strikes me as rather barbaric."

"Not at all," replied Maggie. "It's not like they need their voices in here, do they? It's a much better environment for my colleagues without the cacophony of demons growls."

Again, Giles and Buffy exchanged looks, not approving of her clinical approach. They'd seen several species of demon in the cells that pose no threat to humans at all, so what were they doing there?

"Right, now I'm very excited to be able to show you our best result at the Initiative so far. It's a vampire that, between using methods of conditioned reflexes and the technology of the microchip we have implanted, we can control to the extent that we dictate when it can change its features. We can tell it to fight and where to go, whether to feed or not and so on. By controlling its change into its demonic face, it means it is a fighter we can use to infiltrate any public place without its appearance giving it away."

"So that's what the Initiative is about?" said Giles. "Harnessing a vampire's power for military use?"

"Not the only thing, no, but an important part of what we aim to do."

Buffy's attention had started to wander. She was not really listening to the others' words, just wandering along in front of them. Her eye was drawn to a vampire sitting with his back to the front of the cell. He was extremely thin and had several recent angry looking bruises. His body was covered in scars, some almost faded away completely, others livid red against the pallor of his skin. As she watched, he shifted to reach a bag of blood that was on the floor in front of him. As he moved, she noticed his left arm just hung limp at his side. He brought the bag of blood to his lips and started to feed, head carefully held so that his face couldn't be seen by Buffy.

Maggie and Giles caught up with her.

"I see you're looking at our most important achievement," said Maggie.

Buffy noticed the vampire's thin back stiffened slightly as he heard the professor's voice. He immediately put down the half empty bag of blood, and she could see him gently shake his features back into human form.

"His arm is hurt," said Buffy.

"What? It's left arm? No, it isn't," said Maggie. "It wasn't using both hands equally in combat so we've paralysed it to make it use its right hand. Hopefully when we reactivate the arm we will have fixed the problem and the vampire will be a much more efficient fighter, able to use weapons in either hand just as well."

"How is that possible?" said Giles, horrified at her calm account of physically maiming the vampire whether temporary or not. It's one thing to fight these beasts and kill them to protect innocents but to use them like… this?

Maggie started another lecture telling Giles of how the chip can tap into the nerves controlling the limbs. Buffy again zoned out, watching the vampire carefully. He hadn't reached to finish the blood but hadn't turned to face them either which she found curious. All the others had turned as they walked past. She looked at him more closely. Like all the others his hair was shorn close to his head; his was sandy brown in colour. He tilted his head to the side for a moment listening to Maggie's voice. Buffy's heart missed a beat, that head tilt reminded her so strongly of Spike.

"Don't be stupid, Buffy," she told herself.

Maggie's lecture had drawn to a close.

"So here it is," she said proudly. "Number Seventeen."

"Number Seventeen?" said Giles, "But that's…"

"Spike," said Buffy in a strangled voice as the vampire in the cell got to his feet and turned around to face them.

To be continued……..


	3. No 17

Chapter Three

Number Seventeen

"What did you say?" Maggie asked Buffy sharply.

"Er…he looks like he's been stabbed with a spike," stuttered Buffy, pointing at one of the larger wounds on his torso.

Maggie gave her a strange look but let it go.

"As I was saying it is completely voice activated," said Maggie with a rare smile. "A remote control vampire if you will."

"And how long have you been, um, working on him?" asked Giles, struggling to keep the anger out of his voice.

"It was one of our first captives to be implanted with a pain chip. Unfortunately it escaped shortly afterwards and eluded capture for the next year or so despite us nearly getting it several times. It was very resourceful. We got lucky just over twelve months ago when a patrol came across it in one of the graveyards. It was an easy recapture. It was so unbelievably drunk we didn't even need to stun it to bring it in."

Buffy felt sick. He'd been recaptured the night she'd told him it was over between them. It was her fault he was here!

"Why do you call him 'it' when he's, er, quite obviously male?" asked Buffy flushing slightly at seeing her ex-lover standing naked before them.

"It helps to keep a professional distance from them," replied Maggie. "Let me put it through its paces for you. Number Seventeen, go to training room three."

She opened the door and the vampire walked towards the room she'd ordered him to go to. Buffy and Giles noticed that he walked with none of the swagger they were used to seeing, but with shorter quicker strides. He'd walked past them without even looking at them - let alone recognising them. He paused in front of a large room, stood for the room to be open, then walked in. He turned back to face Maggie Walsh awaiting further instructions.

She ordered him to use a crossbow, an axe and, to Buffy and Giles' surprise, a gun.

"This is the first time we've asked Number Seventeen to do these tests since we put his favoured hand out of action," said Maggie.

They watched as he went first to the crossbow. As he loaded the bolt, they saw him glance down at his left hand. He struggled to load it single-handedly but managed it, taking careful aim at the target and hitting it right in the middle. The axe flew through the air and embedded itself in the centre of its target too. He picked up the handgun.

"Number Seventeen," said Maggie. The vampire paused and looked at her. "With the silencer attached," she added.

He turned back to his task. The silencer had to be screwed onto the muzzle of the gun. Again, there was the little look at his useless hand before he put the gun between his knees and screwed the silencer in. He took aim at the target and emptied the gun into it, all of the bullets hitting dead centre.

"Take the silencer off," ordered Maggie.

"But it will be red hot," protested Giles. But even as he spoke, Spike calmly took hold of the silencer and, putting it between his knees once more, unscrewed it before putting both the gun and silencer back in their place.

"Show me your hand," ordered Maggie.

Spike stepped to the front of the room and held out his hand. It looked raw and sore. Maggie turned to the others.

"It just shows that its level of obedience has now been established to such an extent that it overrides its normal sense of self preservation," she said with pride.

"Oh my God!" cried Buffy. She could take no more and stormed away.

"Where is she going?" asked Maggie. "I was hoping she'd test him out in hand to hand."

"Good Lord, is that the time?" said Giles, covering for Buffy's abrupt departure. "I'm afraid we don't have time today. We, er, have other things scheduled."

"I'll walk you out," she said. "Number Seventeen, go back to your cell."

The door opened and once more Spike walked along in front of them and went into his cell, standing to face them until they went out of sight. He then turned and sat on the floor and reached out for the half full bag of blood, wincing as he picked it up with his sore hand. Once finished he lay on his side and went to sleep.

Ooooooo

Buffy and Giles rushed through their farewells with Maggie and walked silently back to Giles' car. Their silence lasted until they were in the basement at Buffy's house, with Buffy fiercely pounding the punching bag.

"We've. Got. To. Get. Him. Out," said Buffy, punctuating every word with a punch.

"Agreed," said Giles. "What they are doing is totally reprehensible. Not only do we need to get Spike out, but we need to shut the whole place down."

Giles was doing the Giles equivalent of pounding a punching bag. He was furiously cleaning his glasses, pressing so hard he actually popped one of the lenses out of the frame.

"Damn," he muttered as he tried to push it back in place. "The question is, how do we get him out of there? The place is a fortress." He added, "Buffy, just sit down for a minute. You're going to hurt yourself."

Buffy gave the bag a final thump and flopped down on the basement stairs.

"Oh, Giles, what have they done to him?" She put her head in her hands and burst into tears. "Will he be OK again?"

"I honestly don't know, Buffy, but when we get him out of there we need to get hold of one of those little hand held computer things that holds all the data and get Willow to work out how to both deprogram him and deactivate that bloody chip."

"I thought you approved of the pain chip?" said Buffy, sniffing a couple of times.

"This goes way beyond protecting people from vampires. Goddammit Buffy, they've turned him into a weapon, and he'll most probably be killed during the mission. Nothing deserves that, and certainly not Spike after all the help that he's given us in the past."

"We'd better get the gang over and start planning. He needs to be out of there as soon as possible," said Buffy, pulling herself together and racing up the stairs to call Willow and Xander.

Oooooo

Xander and Willow joined Buffy, Dawn and Giles at Buffy's house that evening. Willow had started living back on campus, having resumed her studies with a vengeance. Xander was still in the apartment he'd once shared with Anya before their split.

Buffy had waited until they were all together before telling them of their discovery. Dawn burst into tears.

"Poor Spike," she sobbed.

Willow too was crying and even Xander looked choked up. He'd never been Spike's biggest fan but no creature deserved this. They sat and talked for hours trying to think of something to do. In the end there was only one thing that they realised they could do.

"Buffy, you've got to fight him," said Giles.

"What? No. No. I can't do that. Please don't ask me to do that," said Buffy, her eyes widening in horror and glistening with tears.

"I'm sorry, but it's the only way, and you'll have to do it twice."

"Twice?" She could hear the strain in her own voice.

"Yes, we have to get you to spar with him in their training rooms, then get them to try a test with him outside of The Initiative. If we can get him out, we've got a good chance we'll be able to get him away from them," said Giles.

"He's right, Buffy. I know how hard it'll be, but there's no way we can take on The Initiative in their own building," said Willow.

So it was agreed. Buffy would go to The Initiative the next day and do the sparring Maggie Walsh had wanted her to do that morning.

Ooooooo

"I'm so glad you've found the time to do this," said Maggie as they were walking towards Spike's cell.

"Uh, well anything to help," said Buffy. She was glad that Giles was there with her, as this was going to be difficult.

"Here we are," said Maggie. "Number Seventeen."

At her words, Spike got up from where he was sitting and stood facing them.

"Hey," said Buffy. "I want him to have some clothes. I'm not wrestling a guy who's naked."

"I agree with Buffy," added Giles. "I don't think it's appropriate - surely you have something that he could put on?"

For a moment, Maggie frowned, "Very well."

She turned to her assistant Michael.

"Bring a pair of scrubs from the supply cupboard as quickly as you can."

Michael ran away and reappeared a few minutes later with the pants. He then opened the door and handed them to Spike.

"Put these on, Number Seventeen," he ordered.

Obediently Spike put them on. It was a little awkward for him to do one- handed but he pulled them up. He fiddled with the drawstring on the waist for a moment but couldn't tie a knot, so just left it.

Buffy looked at Michael and Maggie whilst Spike tried to tie the knot, they didn't even register that he couldn't do it at all.

"_God, they__'__re completely heartless,__"_ thought Buffy.

Soon they were in a room with soft padding to the floor and walls. The front of the room, like the front in all the other rooms, was glass.

"Aren't you going to reactive his arm?" asked Buffy. "Doesn't seem very fair when I've got two."

"No," replied Maggie sharply. "It won't be reactivated until a few weeks have passed. Otherwise, it'll just revert to using its left hand too much again."

"_Nice try, Buffy.__"_ thought Giles. He was seething with anger at the indifference this hateful woman was showing, treating Spike as a lab rat and nothing else.

"What about the pain chip?" he asked. "Surely you're not going to have that active and still expect him to fight?"

"Since Number Seventeen has reached this level, the chip in his brain is no longer programmed to giving pain should he attack a human, as ultimately his targets could be human when he's used in the field."

Buffy and Spike stood facing each other. Buffy looked at her lover's face; looking into his eyes trying to see a sign that he recognised her, but nothing showed. He just stood there impassively, waiting for his orders.

"Are you ready?" asked Maggie.

"Just a minute," Buffy went to Spike, reaching for the drawstring, pulling it tight and then tying it in a secure knot. "Didn't want them falling down," she added.

Spike looked down and touched the knot with his right hand then looked at Buffy, slightly tilting his head to one side. Buffy choked back tears as for a second when their eyes met, something flickered across his face, but it was so fleeting that she wasn't sure that she hadn't just imagined it.

"Ok, ready," said Buffy.

"Number Seventeen, fight but do not kill," ordered Maggie.

"Gee, thanks for that," muttered Buffy as Spike stepped forward.

Even with one hand useless to him, Spike was a formidable opponent. Buffy had held back a little to start with but Spike, or rather Number Seventeen, as Buffy realised it wasn't really Spike she was fighting, had no such conscience. He hit her with all his vampiric strength, which surprised her since his face didn't change. Finally, when both were breathing hard and not a little battered Maggie stopped it. The instant she ordered Spike to stop he did, even though Buffy landed another blow she couldn't stop in time. He just took the hit and didn't retaliate, then stood facing Maggie Walsh.

"Thank you, Buffy," said Maggie as they were following Spike back to his cell. "That was very helpful."

"Have you thought of testing him outside of the training rooms?" asked Giles. "I mean, it's one thing to control a creature in a laboratory, but in the real world…" He let his words trail off, holding his breath, hoping Maggie would take the bait.

"Yes, obviously that's the next step," answered Maggie.

"Hey, why don't we do a rematch tomorrow?" said Buffy. "I'm game if you are?"

"Yes, that would be useful. Tomorrow it is. If you get here just before dark then we can begin."

Buffy and Giles left and went to tell the others that their plan to get him outside of The Initiative had worked.

When Spike had been returned to his cell they'd left the trousers on him. After he'd fed, he sat in his usual spot, his hand absently touching the knot Buffy had tied.

To be continued…….


	4. Stolen

Universal Vampire

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I own nothing in the Buffyverse.

Chapter Four

**Stolen**

Buffy and Giles once more made their way into The Initiative. Both were nervous, as this was their one chance of getting Spike out. They had to somehow get hold of one of those little remote control units without it being missed. It was their only chance of finding out what had been done to Spike and attempting to undo it. If it was discovered missing, the game would be up, and it would be apparent that they had been involved in the escape.

When they got to his cell, he was already standing, waiting for them.

"Aw, come on," said Buffy. "You can't have him go out in a pair of bright blue pajamas. Conspicuous, much? Haven't you got any real clothes he can wear? It's cold out there."

"I've already thought of that," snapped Maggie. "I've sent for the clothes it was wearing on capture to be brought up."

Sure enough, an assistant appeared with a bag full of clothes which he put down in front of Spike.

"Number Seventeen, change in to these clothes," ordered Maggie.

Spike pulled the end of the knot that Buffy had tied and it fell loose. He took off the scrubs and then pulled on the jeans, struggling a little with the button on the waist. He pulled the belt two holes tighter than the mark on it where it had fastened previously. He reached for the t–shirt, holding it for a moment as he looked at his left arm. He then tried to thread it over that arm and then pull it over his head, but the sleeve caught on his left elbow and he couldn't do it. He started to panic a little, as failure to do as he was told resulted in punishment.

"Oh, for God's sake!" cried Buffy as she went in to the cell to help him.

"It must adapt to doing it himself," said Maggie.

"Yeah, well it'll be dawn before we get out at this rate. You can practice dressing up your vampire on your own time, but not while I'm waiting."

She gently pulled on his left hand and helped him get the arm through the sleeve so he could put it over his head and on properly. She fastened the buckles of his boots once he'd put his bare feet into them, and helped him put on the leather duster that was so 'Spike' that she felt a tear running down her cheek before she could stop it. She quickly wiped it away and saw Spike looking at her curiously. She put his left hand into the pocket of the duster so that it was held there.

Whilst Buffy was helping to dress Spike and everyone's attention was on her, Giles took one of the hand held computers from a rack on the wall and quickly put it in his pocket, unseen.

"Let's get going," said Buffy. "I've got the perfect spot picked out. It's nice and quiet and we won't be interrupted by Joe Public."

They made their way out of The Initiative, the group consisting of Maggie, Spike, Buffy, Giles and two troops. As this was Spike's first time outside of The Initiative in over a year, his step faltered. He raised his chin and breathed in a deep and unnecessary breath, and then carried on walking beside Maggie Walsh. They went to the graveyard that Buffy and Giles had chosen as the best site for their plan.

They got to the spot and on Maggie's order, the fight began. Buffy made a good show of fighting but kept them moving in the direction she wanted. Giles stood with Maggie while the two soldiers followed the action, tazer guns at the ready.

As they disappeared behind a large mausoleum, the soldiers followed. Xander, who was hiding there, hit one from behind and used his weapon on the second. Neither soldier saw what had hit them.

Willow stood in the shadows near Maggie Walsh. She knew Xander had taken care of the soldiers so now it was her turn to go to work. Muttering an incantation she raised her hands at Maggie, sparks flying as the spell hit the professor. With a sigh, she collapsed to the ground unconscious.

"Well done, now do me," said Giles and he was soon laid next to Maggie.

"Spike, stop fighting," said Buffy. Nothing happened - the vampire still kept calmly coming for her.

"Damn! Number Seventeen, stop fighting," she yelled and immediately he stood still. "Thank God," she sighed.

They'd been worried only a voice he'd been programmed to respond to would work, but mercifully, it wasn't the case.

"Xander, get him home and when you ask him to do something say

'Number Seventeen' or else he won't respond. Please take care of him. Now hit me."

"What?" said Xander.

"Punch me. They've got to believe I was taken out too. Come on, hurry," she ordered.

Reluctantly, Xander punched Buffy hard enough to split her lip, then, with Willow at his side, he ordered Spike to follow him. The three set off running, heading back to Buffy's house where Dawn would have things ready.

When one of the soldiers started to stir, Buffy lay on the ground and waited until he was on his feet before she groaned and got up holding her head. The soldier hit with the tazer blast was still out cold. They raced around to see Giles and Maggie struggling to their feet.

"What's happened?" asked Maggie, leaning on Giles for support. "What the hell was that?"

"I have no idea," said Giles. "Buffy, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just got socked by something that I never saw coming. The other soldier is still out. Looks like he was hit with a tazer blast."

"Number Seventeen?" cried Maggie. "Where's Number Seventeen?"

They looked around for a while but they found no sign of him. Maggie was beyond furious and tore strips off the soldier, ordering him to get his partner back to The Initiative. She then stalked off, dismissing Giles and Buffy's offer of help with a wave of her hand as she walked away.

Buffy and Giles looked at each other - so far so good. They quickly made their way to the house. As soon as they set foot in the door, Dawn rushed up to Buffy.

"Why did Xander chain him up? Why won't he speak? What's wrong with his arm?" she cried.

"Hey, hey, steady. Calm down, Dawnie. We asked Xander to chain Spike up because we weren't sure how he'd react to being somewhere different. The no talking and arm are things that were done to him. We hope we can undo it but it may take time. Willow's got to work on the computer thingy, but he's safe now, Dawnie. They can't hurt him anymore, and we'll do all we can to make him OK again, I promise," said Buffy.

"Did you have any trouble getting him back here?" asked Giles.

"No, he just did what he was told. I tell you, it's freaking me out; it's like something out of Universal Soldier."

"What?" chorused the girls.

"Man, do I need more male friends. Movie; Jean Claude Van Damme? Forget it," he said when they continued to look blank.

"Have you fed him yet?" asked Buffy.

"No," said Willow. "We were waiting for you to get back, figured you'd want to do it."

"Thanks, Will. I'll go see how he is."

"Want me to come with?" asked Willow.

Buffy silently shook her head. None of her friends really knew how she felt about Spike, and although Willow suspected that she had feelings for him, she'd never opened up to her.

"OK, I'll get started on this gismo," Willow said, waving the little computer in her hand.

Buffy heated a bag of blood in the microwave and walked down the steps to the basement. Her feet - somehow of their own accord - slowing their pace as she got further down.

"_God, it hurts so much to see him like this.__"_

Taking a deep breath, she stepped down onto the floor of the basement and turned to look at Spike.

Dawn had set out a bed for him with blankets and a pillow, and Xander had fixed a five-foot length of chain to the ring in the wall. Spike sat on the edge of the bed, feet on the floor, his right wrist with the chain attached to it. He glanced up, then stood as she approached, his blue eyes looking slightly wary, body held a little tense. Xander had taken off his leather jacket before he'd chained Spike up, and she was once more struck by how thin he was. She walked over to him and held out the blood.

"Here's your supper, warmed to 98.7. Just how you like it," she said, forcing her voice to sound light.

He just looked at her, not quite meeting her eyes. She held it out closer to him. He looked at the bag of blood then back at her but didn't take it.

"Number Seventeen," said Buffy, "take the blood and eat it."

He reached out with his right hand and took it from her, the chain jangling as he did. A faint look of surprise crossed his face when he felt its warmth. Buffy realised that for the past year he'd probably had it given straight from the refrigerator. He turned and sat back on the bed, pulling his legs up on to it so he could face the wall before he changed his features, nicked a hole in the bag and drank it all. As soon as he'd finished he shook his head a little , as his features returned to human but didn't turn back around.

"Oh Spike, what have they done to you?" said Buffy. She went up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He tensed against her touch. She felt her heart would break and turned and rushed upstairs before her tears came.

Once upstairs she found Willow.

"Will, you've got to work out how to get him able to speak again, and fix that arm, I can't bear it," said Buffy.

"I'll try. The arm should be OK to do because Professor Walsh told Giles that it was the chip blocking messages to the nerves, but Buffy, what if they didn't use the chip on his voice?"

"What do you mean? How else could they stop everything from speaking?"

"By removing their vocal chords," Willow said quietly.

"Oh, my God. No. Please don't let it be that," Buffy could hold in her tears no longer.

"Hopefully it's not, but from what Giles said Maggie Walsh told him, it's certainly been used on some of the demons they've captured."

"Oh please, Willow, try to work out what to do with the computer. I don't know where to start. He doesn't even respond to his name, just to Number Seventeen. He doesn't do anything unless told to."

"I think we've got to encourage him to use his own initiative again. My God, is that why they use that word for their operation? Because it removes the captives' initiative?" pondered Willow. "But you know what I mean."

"How do we do that?" asked Buffy.

"The easiest would be not to tell him to eat and to just leave it there."

"But he's so thin; if he doesn't keep eating…" protested Buffy.

"That's my point Buff; at some point hunger will make him do it. We've got to encourage that and take it from there. It'll take time - they've had him for over a year," said Willow.

At that point, they decided to call it a night and start work in the morning.

Since being captive, Spike had been conditioned to follow normal human sleeping patterns, not the natural nocturnal tendencies of a vampire. But down in the basement, Spike couldn't sleep. Something was wrong. Used to the sterile, brightly lit glass fronted cells at The Initiative, he glanced fearfully around the dark basement. One of the lights had been left on, and it cast a dim light out over where he was sitting, leaving the corners in darkness.

"_Is it a test? Is a demon going to appear from the dark? Can__'__t smell it.__"_

He knew that he'd been tested like this before, hampered by shackles, but he looked at his useless left arm and knew he'd be in trouble if he had to fight. The only arm he could use was chained to the wall. The stress made him pant a little. He got up off the bed and managed to push it away from the wall. The length of the chain allowing him to move it far enough so that he could get behind it. He lay down on the floor and after a time he managed to fall asleep.

Ooooooo

Dawn sneaked down the stairs and opened the door to the basement. She'd been given strict orders not to go down tonight, but she couldn't wait to see Spike again. She'd seen him for a couple of minutes when Xander and Willow had arrived with him, but that was all.

She tiptoed quietly down the steps. She could see that the bed had been moved and, the figure of Spike lay on the floor behind it. She walked over to him. Why hadn't he slept on the bed? She stood looking at him; she could see him shivering, so she gently put a couple of blankets over him. He stirred in his sleep but didn't wake up. Dawn was glad he hadn't. The others had been right; he should be left in peace. She quietly made her way back to her bedroom.

To be continued……


	5. Confusion

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Buffyverse

Many thanks to Carol for being brave enough to be my beta:)

Chapter Five

**Confusion**

Spike woke at 6 AM as he had every day for the past year. He leapt to his feet as soon as he opened his eyes, the unfamiliar surroundings making him nervous. He looked down at the blankets that had fallen as he'd stood up.

"_I didn't touch them. Why are they there?"_

He kicked them away from his feet. He looked down at his body; the clothes he was wearing felt strange against his skin. He couldn't remember when he'd last had clothes on. He knew they weren't for his "kind".

"_Professor told me to wear them so it must be right, mustn't it?"_

He closed his eyes and shook his head at the confusion in his mind.

"_Where am I? Where's the professor? Have I done something wrong? I obeyed the people last night. Should I have? Was that the test? Have I failed? But they told me properly, like the professor does."_

He sat on the floor and drew his knees up to his chin and waited.

Ooooooo

They all woke fairly early despite the late night they'd had. They were gathered round the kitchen table by seven thirty eating breakfast and discussing what was to be done.

Willow and Giles were to research the mind control techniques and find out what data was stored in the computer they'd stolen so they could begin to help Spike. Buffy had elected herself as the one dealing with Spike when Giles had suggested he might respond best to just one person.

Dawn protested that she hadn't gotten to see him properly yet, not telling of her little nocturnal visit, so Buffy promised she could see him later that day if all went well. Xander was so relieved not to have to deal with Spike he actually volunteered to help with the research.

"So we'll do what Willow suggested yesterday and leave his food there for him to get it without being told. I know it just got dropped in to the cells and he can't have been ordered every time to eat it. I don't understand - how will this help?" asked Buffy.

"If he takes it immediately it won't. But I'm pretty sure that because he's not in the same routine he'll expect to be told exactly what to do. There's going to be no definites here, Buffy, we'll just have to feel our way around." said Giles.

Buffy got the blood warmed up and went down into the basement. She saw Spike sitting on the floor, the bed pushed away and the blankets on the floor near it. He was watching her intently. When she got near him he stood up. She'd noticed that once he was standing he never met her eyes. He hadn't in The Initiative, even when they'd been fighting.

She held out the blood. He didn't move so she put it on the bed just within his reach and went to sit on the bottom step to see what happened. It took over two hours before he took it. He looked at it then at her a few times to begin with, then he sat down and ignored it.

"_It's a test .They want to see if I disobey. But professor said to eat all I was offered. But that was in my cell. Does it still count here?"_

She could literally hear his stomach growling with hunger when he tentatively reached out to get it, touching it and looking at Buffy a couple of times before he picked it up. It then took him another half hour before he actually ate it, turning his back to her as he fed.

"Yes!" said Buffy when he'd finished.

Spike leapt up and stood with his back to the wall, facing her. He dropped the empty bag as if it had scalded him. He looked around the room, shaking.

"_Bad. Shouldn't have done it, should have waited. Will be punished."_

Buffy could see the fear in his eyes. She cursed herself for speaking out loud and startling him.

"It's ok, it's ok." she soothed.

He looked at her, not quite meeting her eye, but continued to tremble.

"No. 17" said Buffy, "it's ok, you did well. It's finished, it's over, you've done what I wanted."

As she said the last few words he visibly relaxed. She realised that by saying he'd "done what she wanted", she was speaking a phrase used by Maggie Walsh.

"Why didn't you sleep on your bed last night?" asked Buffy.

Spike started to fidget, moving from foot to foot.

"_Why is she asking a question? Never to answer back. Can't anymore."_

His life had gotten a little easier when he didn't speak.

"_Crap! I've done it again." _thought Buffy, _"How can he answer me if he can't talk?"_

"No 17."

The fidgeting stopped.

"Put the bed up against the wall. It's where you will sit or lay down from now on. Understand?"

He nodded slightly and went to pull the bed back. It was awkward with the chain on his wrist so Buffy went forward to help him. Once the bed was back in its place she put the blankets back on it.

Spike was looking at her with a slightly amazed expression on his face.

"_Why is she helping me? She helped me dress, too."_

He touched his left hand with his right then touched his t-shirt. Buffy noticed the gesture but didn't know what he meant by it.

"We're going to try to fix that as soon as we can." said Buffy, unaware that she'd accidentally used another familiar phrase from The Initiative. The last time he'd heard it was when he'd been taken and operated on and woke up with his left arm paralysed.

"_Oh God, does that mean they're going to do the same with my right?_

She left the room and went up to join the others. Spike sat huddled on the bed, holding his left arm in his right hand.

"_What if fixing it was taking it away?"_ He'd seen plenty of amputations in his time at The Initiative. _"Oh, I must have been bad to make her say that."_

When she came back at lunchtime she just left the blood but didn't stay. Spike stood up as she approached but once she'd gone he just sat down again and despite the hunger he didn't take the blood. Before they'd developed the gas, they used to knock him out with drugged blood. Since he wasn't in the cells he decided he wasn't going to take the blood unless he had to, unless he was told to.

"_That's why they're going to fix me. I took the blood without being told."_

Oooooooo

Dawn pestered to be allowed to take Spike his evening's blood. In the end it had been easier to let her than to stop her. With strict orders to give him the blood and leave, she stepped down in to the basement. Spike was huddled on the bed, right hand holding left wrist so he had his arms around his knees. She saw the untouched blood on the floor near to the bed. As she got closer he got up and stood eyes averted in front of the bed, keeping hold of his left wrist.

"Sit down." said Dawn, "No need to get up."

Spike didn't move. _"Another test, trying to make me do things without proper instructions. Not going to fail. Don't want to be fixed."_

Dawn remembered what Buffy had said, that he only responded if you used his 'name' first.

"No. 17." said Dawn, "Sit down. You do not have to stand when we come in."

Spike obediently sat down. _"Ok, so not a test."_

"No. 17, drink this now." She held out the still warm bag of blood she'd brought with her.

Despite his conditioning he hesitated very slightly before taking it, certain it would be drugged, But since he couldn't disobey an order he took it and turned to the wall to change his features and drink it. He'd barely nicked the bag when Dawn spoke.

"No. 17, turn back around. Don't hide your face."

He slowly turned round. _"Why is she saying that? Professor said never to show my face like this. But it was an order."_

So he kept his face with his vampiric features showing, keeping his eyes on the ground and draining the bag of blood. He glanced at the other bag he'd refused to eat earlier.

"Oh, you want more?" said Dawn, "Take it, No. 17, take it."

He quickly took it and drank it, seemingly so fast that Dawn thought he must be afraid it would be taken away. As soon as he'd fed he faded back into his human features. Dawn almost preferred his demonic ones at the moment, seeing him as 'human' Spike was just so painful. He bore no resemblance to the Spike she knew, who'd cared for her when Buffy had died. She never would have believed he could be like he is now. He'd been so strong, so passionate, about everything. Now he just seemed like a shell, unable even to talk. It was so cruel.

Without even realising she was crying, tears ran down her face as she knelt on the floor near Spike. They dropped on to the dusty floor. She didn't wipe them away, just letting them fall.

Spike saw the marks the tears made on the floor. He reached out and could just touch them with his fingers. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Dawn grabbed his hand and held it to her face. He felt the tears running over his hand but didn't know what to do. After a few minutes Dawn sniffed a couple of times, let go of his hand and raced up the stairs without a backwards glance.

Spike sat looking at his hand expecting something to happen to it. He'd had liquid poured on him before that had burned, but this had come out of the girl and didn't seem to do anything. He wiped his hand on his jeans and lay down on the bed.

"_I want my cell. Too confusing here, don't know what to do."_

Ooooooo

"Dawn, are you ok?" Buffy asked as her sister came out of the basement and ran straight upstairs. When she didn't reply Buffy followed her up to her bedroom.

"Dawnie?" she said softly as she pushed the door open.

Dawn was laying on the bed sobbing. Buffy went to her and put her arms around her little sister.

"Shh Dawnie, what's wrong? Did Spike do something?"

"No." said Dawn between sobs, "That's the trouble, he didn't do anything! He hadn't eaten the blood you left at lunchtime, he was just sitting there. It was awful, so I told him to drink the blood. I know you said I shouldn't but I couldn't let him be hungry. He's too thin already."

"It's ok, I know it's hard but we're going to help him Dawn. We're going to try to make him better."

"Like he was before?" asked Dawn.

"I don't know. All I can say is we'll do the very best we can, but he's had so much done to him, Dawnie, that we're not sure if we can undo it all. But we'll never stop trying."

Dawn sat up and the sisters hugged tightly, both crying at Spike's situation. Buffy went back down alone. Dawn decided to stay in her room, not wanting to hear all the talk about Spike. The others were in the lounge, Willow on the computer, with Giles and Xander looking through the books. She told them about Dawn's experience and they agreed they'd better order him to eat from now on.

"You said he reacted badly when you spoke as he'd finished eating." said Giles, "Can you remember anything else you said?"

"I dunno. I told him he was ok, that he'd done what I wanted. Oh yes, then he sort of touched his left arm then his t-shirt. I wasn't sure what he meant so I told him that we were going to fix it."

"Fix it?" said Willow, "You said 'fix it', not 'make it better'?"

"Huh? No, I'm sure I said 'fix it'. Why?" answered Buffy.

"Well, I've been hacking into The Initiative's files and whenever they came across a problem and solved it, they put on the records that it was 'fixed'. The last entry on Spike's record that was 'fixed' was when they crippled his arm."

Everyone was silent for a long time.

"Oh my God! He must have thought I meant to do something else to him because he took the blood! That's why he wouldn't take more until he was told, he was afraid to!" cried Buffy.

"Before they developed a gas as a means of anaesthetising their captives, with vampires they used to drug their blood." said Willow.

"We've got to undo this stuff, Willow, it's just horrible." said Buffy.

"I know, but it's hard to work out exactly how to reprogram the chip. I think I need to hack into other files for that. These just say what was done to him. Before they upgraded the chip a few times, their main method was torture. For example, to stop him talking he was beaten, starved, forced to drink blood laced with holy water and more. You don't want to know. He fought them in the early days of his recapture. Maggie Walsh noted that he was the strongest she'd ever had to deal with but once the new chip was implanted it was over. He couldn't resist if he wanted to. If it was programmed for him to do something or not do something he had to obey. Then she discovered that even orders he hadn't been programmed with were followed with total obedience. She said he was compliant to whatever they wanted him to do, that he'd finally given in."

Again everyone was silent as they digested Willow's words. Xander looked green, Giles sat with a very grim expression, and Buffy was struggling to hold in yet more tears.

"Um, right." said Giles, "Can you get into these other files, Willow?"

"I'm sure I can. I'm almost in now. Just another couple of hours and I should have access to all the programming the chip has ever had."

Buffy stood up.

"I've got an idea of how he might be able to communicate. I know he won't be able to write until we get his left arm mended but what about moving letters with his right hand? He should be able to do that, shouldn't he?"

Without waiting for an answer she got out an old 'Scrabble' word game set from the closet and went to the basement.

Spike started to stand when he saw her then stopped himself as he remembered his previous orders. So he just sat on the bed. He watched as she pulled out a couple of stools from a corner of the room. She put one in front of him and sat on the other one. She put a box on the stool between them. Spike slightly drew back, as he didn't know what it was and nothing good had ever happened when he saw things he didn't know.

Buffy took the board out of the box and put it on the stool upside down so it was plain green and not covered with the grids for the game itself. She then took out all the letters and placed them on the board, making sure they were the right way up for Spike to read and upside down for her.

"No. 17." she said to get his attention. "This is my name."

She slid the letters out from where she'd lined them up and in the centre of the board she placed the letters B U F F Y.

"That is my name - Buffy."

He looked at the letters and looked at her. She pushed the letters back with the others. When she saw Spike's blank expression she pulled them out again.

"Buffy." she said.

She jumbled them up.

"No. 17, now you write my name."

Spike looked at her, for once meeting her eyes, as she gestured to the board.

"Do it, No. 17."

He put his right hand out and slowly selected five of the letters. He put them together in a line like she had then looked up at her. She looked at the letters he'd selected D O T E U.

"No, that's not right." she said impatiently.

He shrank back from her.

"No, it's ok, don't worry, we just need to practice." she soothed.

After several more attempts he still couldn't get it right, even when the only letters she left on the board were the five of her name. He couldn't manage to get them in the right order. She stopped when she realised he was getting stressed and panting a little. She understood why - if he failed a test he was punished, so although it was still wrong she told him he'd done well and he visibly relaxed. She left him to go and get him some more blood.

Spike looked at the board and touched the five little plastic squares. He didn't know why this was right and all the others were wrong. The markings on the squares all seemed alike so why did she keep moving them around? He pulled his hand back quickly as he heard her come back down the steps. She gave him his blood and he turned away as he started to drink it, then remembered the other one's orders earlier and turned back around. He glanced at Buffy to gauge her reaction.

"That's ok, that's good." reassured Buffy. She cleared away the letters and left him to go back upstairs.

"Night, Spike." she whispered.

"_Spike? spike?" _He looked around fearfully, _"Where was the spike?"_ His hand went to the back of his head. He could feel the tiny soft spot where the chip was situated, where the 'spike' was put in. He shuddered.

To be continued…….


	6. Put Things Right

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns it all!! (Plot's mine!!)

Many thanks to my beta Carol :) She saves me when I'm getting too 'English'

Chapter Six

**Put Things Right**

The next morning brought a breakthrough. Willow worked all night hacking into Spike's records and now had the full details of all the procedures Maggie had subjected him to, both physically and then via the microchip in his brain.

"The technology is unbelievable." said Willow, drinking what felt like her thousandth cup of coffee. "They have the ability to, quite frankly, change anything they want. For example, they could interrupt the nerves controlling his arm, or simply shut him down completely. At the moment things like this can only be done or undone via a probe which connects to the chip and transfers the data, but from what's written here, they wouldn't be far from being able to do it remotely. That would mean they'd never lose track of anyone again. They could simply switch off their legs, sight, whatever and track them down. If captured by an enemy they could just switch it off and shut them down. Basically they could kill them remotely. Too scary."

"So are we ready to be able to reverse what was done to Spike?" asked Giles.

"And what about him not being able to spell my name despite me showing him lots of times? Why did that happen?" asked Buffy.

"I'm not sure. It must be tied in with being made mute. Thankfully that's been done via the chip. Seems he's lucky he escaped the first time otherwise it would have been his vocal chords themselves and that we wouldn't have been able to repair, since they've found a way to prevent the vampires they did it to from healing"

"Thank God for that." said Buffy.

"Yes." said Xander, "I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm missing his sarcastic jibes. I guess I'm missing Spike."

"The only thing we're missing is the probe that needs to be in contact with the chip to change these programs." said Willow.

"A probe? How the hell are we supposed to get one of those?" snapped Buffy in frustration, "The Initiative is closed to all but regulars. There's no way can I get in. I'm amazed that they allowed us to go so soon after questioning us. Somehow they can't have missed the computer we stole."

"I know the reason for that." said Giles. "I phoned Maggie to ask how she was the morning after we took Spike. It was something I would have done had she not been such an evil harridan. Apparently a Neleh demon got loose not long after we'd left the complex with Spike and smashed a lot of equipment before they killed it. They didn't know it had been taken."

"Still needing the probe thingy though." reminded Buffy.

"No, I don't think we do," said Willow, "I think I can make one. All it has to do is carry the signal from the computer to the chip."

"So you've got to stick something into his brain?" asked Xander with a grimace," Why can't you just short out the chip or take it out?"

"If the chip shorts out it will leave everything as it is now and I wouldn't know where to start at its removal. I'll deactivate the programming it has and that should just make it dormant."

"So how exactly are you going to stick that thing into his head? asked Xander, turning a little green at the thought.

"That's the easy part, they've made a little…um…well, tunnel is probably the easiest way to describe it, leading from his scalp directly to the chip. All I have to do is pierce his skin and it's in."

"Ew!" Buffy pulled a face, "Please tell me he's not going to be awake when you do that?"

"No, it'll be too risky. If he moved his head at all when the probe's in there, the damage could leave him a vegetable. I can do a spell to put him out while it's done. I'll be ready to do it by this evening. Don't give him any blood at lunchtime. The spell could make him vomit when he wakes up if he's eaten too soon before it."

"Don't you need to get some sleep Willow? You've been up all night." said Giles.

"That's where I'm heading now. I'll grab a few hours then get the probe done and get to work on Spike."

As Willow left to go to get some sleep, Buffy heated some blood and went down to give Spike his breakfast. As usual he was awake and sitting on the edge of the bed, cradling his left hand in his right.

"Morning." she said as she got to the bottom step.

He started to get up then quickly sat down again remembering the orders he'd been given the day before, hoping that it wouldn't have been noticed. He'd had to stand when approached for over a year, it was hard to remember not to. When Buffy didn't react to his movement he relaxed a little. He still couldn't work out why he was here, why there'd been no tests apart from that strange one with the squares.

Spike took the blood and drained the bag as fast as possible so his vampiric features wouldn't be on show for long. Buffy held out her hand for the empty bag so he passed it to her again and then held his left wrist again as had become his habit. He hated that it felt like it wasn't a part of him anymore.

Buffy started to say that they were hoping to give him back the use of his arm but remembering how she'd said the wrong thing before, she stopped herself. He'd find out soon enough.

She was feeling wound up and walked about the basement for a time. Spike anxiously watched her go back and forth until she decided she needed to work off some tension and starting hitting the punch bag in the corner of the room.

"_Is that what the next test will be? Is she going to fight me again? With my arm like this, I'll lose."_

After half an hour Buffy stopped her workout and went back upstairs. Spike lay back down on the bed. There was nothing else for him to do.

Oooooo

Spike looked up as the basement door opened. Was it finally lunchtime? It had seemed such a long time since breakfast. Buffy had decided not to go down to try to explain that he couldn't have any blood, deciding, correctly, that he'd see it as punishment.

Buffy, Willow, Giles and Xander came down the stairs. It was the first time that they'd all been down into the basement at the same time. Spike stood up, forgetting, with being nervous at the sight of them all, about his orders to stay seated. He could see they were carrying some things in their arms and that always meant pain when things were brought into his cell. He backed up and stood as far away from them as his chain would allow. He didn't meet their eyes.

"Ready?" said Willow.

The others nodded. Spike looked at her as she started to chant a spell. He fell softly to the floor as it worked its effect and rendered him unconscious.

Working quickly the others unchained his wrist, pulling the bed to the centre of the room under the brightest light and placing the sleeping body of Spike on it. They lay him face down so Willow could easily get to the back of his head. She put her lap top on a stool Giles placed on one side of her and the hand held computer which now had a wire attached to it at one end and the probe Willow had made at the other.

"Ok Xander, aim the flashlight at the spot there where the hair is the shortest."

Xander turned on the beam and held it steady. Willow pushed a few buttons then picked up the probe that she'd sterilised beforehand and started to push it through the skin where the small disc of bone was missing. There was a heavy thud and the beam of the flashlight disappeared. She looked around to see Xander sprawled on the floor. He'd fainted. Buffy picked up the flashlight and shone it at the spot Willow was working on.

"Thanks." said Willow, "I'm nearly there."

Once the tip of the probe touched the chip, the screen on her laptop sprang to life. To Buffy and Giles it just looked like gibberish but Willow started tapping at the keypad. Forty -five minutes later and she withdrew the probe, wiped the incision with an alcohol soaked sterile swab and turned to Giles and Buffy. Xander had come around earlier but had staggered up the steps and out of the basement.

"There, that should be it. If the chip works as it should his arm should be fine and I've undone the message blocking his chip too. Let's get him back and I'll reverse the spell. He'll wake up about five or ten minutes after that." said Willow.

They pushed the bed with Spike on it back to its position near the wall and put the chain back on Spike's right wrist. Giles and Willow left Buffy to sit with him, both knowing she wanted to be alone with him when he woke up.

He started to stir after five minutes and by ten minutes he'd rolled over onto his back and started to sit up. Without realising he was doing it he pushed himself up with his left arm. Buffy was delighted to see it working again. As he sat up he suddenly noticed he'd used his left arm. He looked down at it and then lifted up his hand until it was in front of his face and clenched and unclenched his fist.

He saw Buffy sitting watching him. He met her eyes for a fraction of a second then looked back at his hand again. He then did something she hadn't seen him do since they'd found him - he smiled. It was only a small, ghost of a smile, but it was a definite one.

"Spike, uh, No. 17, that's better, isn't it? said Buffy softly.

"_Spike? Oh right, the spike's made it better, that's what she means."_

He looked at her again and gave a small nod. The relief he felt at having the use of his arm back was enormous. It made the terrible pain he always suffered when the chip had been programmed seem a little more bearable.

"I'll be back with some blood." Buffy told him as she went up the steps.

When she returned a couple of minutes later, Spike was still moving his left hand, obviously amazed that it was responding again. She held out the blood wanting to see if he'd take it without being told whilst his mind was focusing on his hand. But he just looked at it and didn't reach out, so she told him to take it. He did so with his right hand, and then went back upstairs. They'd all agreed not to try to get him to talk that night.

Spike was afraid to go to sleep. He was afraid his left arm would be useless again when he woke up, or that something else would have been done. In the Initiative they often played mind games with their specimens, taking something away, giving it back and then taking it away again, all part of their way to demoralise and break the demons they were working on. He stayed awake until the early hours of the morning then finally fell asleep.

To be continued……..


	7. Did It Work?

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters!

Thanks Carol!!

Chapter Seven

**Did It Work?**

Buffy had barely slept. She just tossed and turned and in the end gave up at half past six and got up, walking quietly downstairs so as not to wake the others. Willow had slept in Dawn's room so Xander could use hers. Giles had gone home promising to be back early that morning.

She went down to check on Spike, too eager to see how he was doing to wait for his blood to be heated. She'd get it later. For the first time since he'd been with them Spike was still sleeping when she got into the basement. She sat on the bottom step not wanting to disturb him. As she watched, she could see he was dreaming and it obviously wasn't a pleasant one. He had curled himself into a ball, head in his hands, trembling. She went to go to wake him but knowing he recoiled from being touched when he was awake she stopped herself. She thought it probably would frighten him, so she sat and watched and hoped he'd wake soon for his own sake.

Spike was dreaming of his first few weeks after recapture. It just seemed to revolve around orders and pain when he didn't obey them. Sometimes there was pain even if he did, just to punish him for being slow to respond. When they called him No. 17 he kept shouting that it wasn't his name that his name was…….even in his dream he could no longer remember it. Every time he'd said it his head had exploded with pain, sometimes so bad he passed out. He stopped speaking to them but said his name over and over at night, clinging to who he was. Then one day he woke and could no longer speak at all, not even a whisper. He couldn't even form words silently with his lips, it was like his mind was speaking a language his mouth and tongue couldn't understand and couldn't relate to. That of everything had been the most terrifying experience, worst than all the physical tests and torture they did. He couldn't even remember what his voice sounded like.

He woke as he always did from this dream with a start when he realised he couldn't speak. He suddenly sat up, looking around him wildly. He leapt up so quickly he made Buffy jump too and when he saw her sitting there he was close to panic. Although he had no way of knowing the time, he knew he'd slept late and that was always punished. He stood and braced himself for the pain to hit his head, breath coming in ragged gasps. He was looking at the floor so didn't see her approach. As she reached out and touched him, he flinched.

"It's ok, you're not in trouble." soothed Buffy quietly, hating to see Spike reduced to this.

As she stroked him arm gently, he tilted his head so he could look at what she was doing. When he had relaxed a little she put her arms around him and hugged him, putting her head on his chest, her hair brushing his down turned face.

For a moment Spike thought he remembered something but it slipped away and he just stood there wondering what test this was. She drew away, leaving a little wet spot on his t-shirt where her tears had fallen.

"Sorry about that," she said, "But I've missed you so much, and now you're back and you're going to be alright, I promise. You understand me don't you? You know what I'm saying?"

Spike gave a small nod. It meant nothing. He always agreed if asked anything, all part of the conditioning instilled in him.

"Oh, I forgot your blood. I'll go and get it." She rushed upstairs.

Spike stood there and touched his wet chest.

_"What is wrong with them? Why do they keep leaking everywhere? First, the one with dark hair now this one. Least it doesn't hurt me."_

Buffy reappeared with the blood.

"Sit down." said Buffy, getting no response. "Ok, No. 17, sit down."

He sat.

"I want you to ask me for your blood, ok? Not only is your arm is mended but we've made it so you can talk again. It's ok to talk. So, No. 17, ask me for your blood."

Now he was confused. He looked at his left arm and wriggled his fingers. OK, that worked, but that had only been numb for a few days. He'd been told from day one not to speak. The consequences when he had spoken had been dire, then he couldn't even if he wanted to. Now this person was demanding he speak. He'd been tricked before. Since he'd been here he hadn't been hurt. The only thing they'd done was give him back his arm. He decided to risk it.

He opened his mouth but nothing happened, it was just the same as before. His tongue didn't respond to his thoughts. She'd lied to him! She hadn't changed anything. He looked at his blood. He was hungry and he wanted it but he just couldn't physically say it.

Buffy could see the conflict in Spike's expression. For a moment she thought he was going to speak but then he didn't. He looked distressed, confused and, for a split second, angry.

"Come on, I know its been a long time but one word, just say it for me …'blood'" coaxed Buffy.

He could say it in his mind and he understood what she wanted him to do but couldn't make the word come out of his mouth.

"Do you want me to take it away then?" said Buffy, wondering if it would provoke him in to speaking. To her amazement he nodded. "Oh. Ok then." And she got up and went upstairs taking the blood with her. She needed to talk to Willow since she obviously hadn't programmed the chip as she thought.

Spike watched her go in dismay.

_"My fault, slept too long, God, I'm hungry. But I was bad. No food for N.o 17."_

He'd wanted to say no and have her to leave the blood but the last time he'd said no they'd broken his leg for being disobedient. Even with his vampiric healing it wasn't something he wanted to suffer again.

Oooooooo

Buffy walked into the kitchen to find everyone there, even Giles. No one had been able to wait any longer.

"Why haven't you let him have his breakfast?" asked Dawn as soon as she saw her.

"He didn't want it." said Buffy.

"He told you that? asked Giles, "He spoke to you?"

"No. I was trying to get him to speak, to ask for his blood but he still wouldn't. I tried a bit harder and said 'do you want me to take it away' and he nodded. I didn't know what else to do, so I came upstairs with it." replied Buffy.

"Buff, look it may be all the movies I've seen but do you think after all the things those people have done to him that he'd dare say no? I mean, some of the stuff Willow says they've done, do you think they'd let him disagree?"

Buffy went pale.

"Oh my God, I've just been like them! I didn't get what I wanted so took away his food. I can't cope with this, it's too hard! Why didn't he talk to me? Willow, you'd said you'd reversed what they'd done but he never said a word."

"It may take time, Buffy. According to Willow's research on the computer files, Spike hasn't spoken for eleven months and that's a couple of weeks longer than the chip has been programmed to block it. So I think it's safe to say their methods to keep him quiet were pretty cruel. It may not work like his arm, a flick of a switch and it's back. They've totally demoralised him. He hasn't reacted as if he knows any of us but we know he should. They've seriously messed up his mind." said Giles.

"I'd better go and give him his blood." said Buffy, starting to get up.

"No, Buffy, I think you're too close, too emotionally involved." countered Giles, "I know you have feelings for him, but those feelings won't help now."

"What do you mean? Too emotionally involved?" snapped Buffy, "I just...er..feel terrible about what's happened to him like we all do."

They all looked at her in disbelief.

"Come on Buffy, it's more than that and you know it." said Willow, "There was something going on with you and Spike a year ago before he disappeared, wasn't there? We were just waiting for you to tell us, we're your friends Buffy, Spike's too, why don't you just admit it?"

_"What is it with Buffy and vampires?"_ thought Xander.

"Um...er...well." stuttered Buffy. _"Why is it so hard to tell my friends? He's proved he can be a good man in the way he protected Dawn's identity from Glory and how he cared for her when I died."_ she took a deep breath, "Ok, Will, you're right, there was something between us before he disappeared, I was afraid to tell you guys, but seems like you already knew." she looked at them, they were all nodding their heads, even Giles, "The thing you might not know is that I'm in love with him, a part of me died when he left and now he's back, I love him so much but all I'm doing is hurting him." she buried her face in her hands and burst in to tears.

When she looked back up, having gotten her sobs under control, she looked at the faces of her friends, she could see that Willow and Dawn were pleased that she'd spoken of her love for Spike, especially Dawn, who'd always adored him, the men were looking a little more reserved, but she didn't care. She loved Spike and now everyone knew about it.

"Xander and I will see to Spike, see how we get on with him, ok?" said Giles.

Buffy nodded her head, it made sense, it hurt so much to see him like that she could hardly bear it.

"Why me, G- Man? I'm sorry, but seeing Spike like that kinda freaks me out." moaned Xander.

"Because I want to unchain him and I need back up, just in case." said Giles, "Reheat that blood and we'll get started."

Xander popped the bag in the microwave and at the 'ping' took it out and followed Giles into the basement.

Spike was sitting with his head in his hands, slightly rocking backwards and forwards. He looked up when he saw the two men walking towards him. He backed up to the wall and drew his legs up under his chin. Two men meant the operations rooms.

Giles walked up to where Spike was sitting taking with him one of the stools Buffy had used yesterday. Xander sat himself down on the steps. Giles reached out to Spike and took hold of his right wrist. Spike cowered and resisted for a moment then let him pull his hand forward. Giles unlocked the chain and pushed it back against the wall, out of the way.

Spike waited for the order to get up and go to the operation rooms.

"_Don't want to go, please don't make me go, don't know where they are anymore, not being bad, just don't know."_

He started to shake slightly despite trying hard not to, but instead of being taken away he was given his blood and told to eat it. He took it and tasted it cautiously but it hadn't been drugged so he drank it without fear he'd be taken away asleep.

Giles sat on the stool and took the empty bag from him when he'd finished.

"No. 17, look at me." said Giles. Spike looked him in the eye for the first time, Giles seeing the fear in his gaze. "My name is Giles. I know this is difficult for you, but you must understand, you will not be hurt here, you are safe. The Initiative will never hurt you again. I'm not certain you remember us but we are your friends. We got you out from there as soon as we knew you were there. It's alright for you to disagree with something we say, you won't be hurt again, you're safe, you're home."

Home.

The word reverberated through Spike's mind, home, that's all he'd wanted when he'd first been taken. He just wanted to go home, but then it wasn't real anymore. He didn't know where it was anymore. He wasn't sure it had ever been real.

He looked at the man sitting in front of him. He wasn't like any of the men he saw at The Initiative. He believed him. A tear slowly rolled down his cheek.

Giles was shocked to see the tear ,but he hoped it meant that Spike knew he was safe and so hopefully he'd trust him.

"No. 17 is not your name." said Giles.

Spike nodded.

"Do you mean that it is your name?" asked Giles, thinking that Spike still hadn't the courage to say no.

Spike nodded again.

Then a thought struck Giles, "You had a name before that, before No. 17, do you remember it?"

Spike looked into Giles' eyes and very slowly shook his head from side to side, tensing a little in case he was wrong to do it.

"That's ok, you're ok. Well, your name was Spike. You are Spike, from now on we will only call you Spike. Do you understand?"

A nod.

"Will I be calling you No. 17 again?"

Another shake, this time a little more confidently.

"Yesterday when we mended your arm, we also mended what they did to stop you from being able to speak. I want you to know that you are allowed to talk, we want you to talk to us."

Now Spike was worried again. If he couldn't do what he said, would he get angry with him?

"Can you say your name for me?" asked Giles.

Spike concentrated hard, _"Spike."_ But he just couldn't form the word, so he shook his head, tears brimming in his eyes as he waited for the inevitable blow to come. When it didn't Spike glanced up at Giles again. His expression was sympathetic so Spike relaxed a little.

"It's ok, don't worry," soothed Giles, "Do you want to talk to me?"

Spike nodded.

"Are you able to talk to me?"

Spike shook his head.

"Ok, we'll leave you to rest now, Spike, I'll leave you unchained but you've got to stay in this room? Is that alright?"

Spike nodded once more.

Oooooooo

Giles and Xander went back upstairs.

"So what happened?" demanded Buffy as soon as she saw them.

"He wants to talk but still can't. Can you go over the programming records again Willow and see if we've missed something?"

"Sure, I'll get on it right away."

"I've explained that we're friends, that no harm will come to him. I'm sure he understood. We left him unchained, too. We'll just chain him at night. I don't think he's a danger to us but we don't want him to wander off whilst we're sleeping. I'll talk to him some more in a few hours. We'll take it slowly." said Giles.

Oooooooo

_"Spike. I'm Spike."_

It felt right, it fit.

_"The man, who was he? Giles, that was it, Giles. He spoke to me like I was an equal to him. He's human so what does that mean? Said we were friends, but why don't I remember? Why don't I remember anything but being in my cell?"_

He sat there trying to put his thoughts into speech but still couldn't manage it.

To be continued…..


	8. If At First You Don't Succeed

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: the plot is my own the rest belongs to the owners of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Chapter Eight

**If At First You Don't Succeed….**

"Ok, I think I've found something. Spike was one of the first to have been made mute by the chip. I think it has degraded and its connections to the brain aren't as efficient as they should be. I don't suppose they really planned for it to be reversed. It's the second chip they implanted, the first being the pain chip. Who knows if damage was done when that was removed and the new one put in." said Willow as she walked in to the room where the others were sitting.

"So does that mean that he'll never be able to talk?" asked Dawn in a small voice.

"No, it means I need to go back in with the probe and do a little magic to help the technology along." replied Willow, "Shall we do it now?"

"Yes." said Giles, "The sooner the better. Xander, you stay here to save you fainting again. You too, Dawn."

Dawn pulled a face but she was secretly pleased not to be going with them. Buffy, Giles and Willow went to Spike.

"Spike." said Giles. After a moment's hesitation Spike looked up at him. "Ok, we're going to help you to talk but we've got to get to the chip again. Is that alright?"

Spike nodded, glancing fearfully at the apparatus in Willow's hands, knowing it would hurt but desperate to be able to speak again.

"It's ok, we'll make you sleep so you won't feel it." reassured Giles.

A quick spell from Willow and Spike was asleep. Once he was in position she carefully inserted the probe, pushed a few buttons on the computer and chanted another spell. The probe glowed brightly for about ten seconds and when it faded she withdrew it.

"That's it. If that doesn't work I don't know what will because that's all I've got." said Willow, "He'll sleep for another couple of hours at least. I'm not going to reverse the spell. I want to give his brain a bit of time with just his subconscious working - it might help him sort it out."

They made sure Spike was comfortable and left the vampire sleeping peacefully, or so they thought.

Oooooo

Spike started to writhe on the bed, images racing through his dreams.

"I'm Spike!" he shouted defiantly then screamed as pain ripped through his head causing him to collapse to his knees. It's repeated over and over, he kept getting up, yelling his name until finally he whispered, "I'm No. 17." as he lay almost unconscious on the floor. After that he never spoke to them again. He talked to himself at night, when there was no one to hear, keeping his memories alive by saying them aloud. But then one day he was drugged and when he woke up his head hurt so badly he couldn't move for hours afterwards. Voices filtered down to him almost as if he were underwater, strangely muted through the clouds of pain.

"That'll fix him, see how he likes the new chip." someone sneered.

He cringed at the thought. The pain inflicted by the chip he had already had was so intense, he didn't think he could survive anything worse. That night, as the pain lessened, he tried to talk through his memories, needing them to remind him who he was. Nothing happened. It was like he'd never known how to speak. He realised what the voice had meant when it had said it would fix him.

"No!" the word barely a whisper. Spike awoke with a start, taking rapid unnecessary breaths in his panic. He looked around, realising he wasn't in his cell. He was still in the room he'd been brought to; he was still safe. He lay back down, his head awash with pain, as it always was when the chip had been accessed.

Oooooo

Sometime later Giles came down the stairs, Xander a few paces behind, with more blood. He sat on the stool near Spike's bed, facing the vampire.

"Hello Spike, are you feeling alright?" he asked.

Spike nodded slightly, narrowing his eyes a little as his head protested at the movement. He looked at the blood hungrily.

"I want you to try to talk to me, Spike. We've made it so you should be able to now. Is that ok?"

Another nod.

"Can you say 'yes' for me?" pressed Giles gently.

Spike looked worried for a moment. He thought the word 'yes', then opened his mouth.

"Yes." The word was almost inaudible but he'd done it.

"Fantastic, Spike, well done. Do you remember my name?"

Again the little concentration, then "Giles." His voice was hoarse and low.

"You're going to be ok, Spike." said Giles, handing Spike his blood and going upstairs with Xander.

Spike nodded as he took it and gave Giles a little ghost of a smile.

Ooooooo

Giles and Xander went back upstairs.

"It worked Willow, well done." said Giles as soon as he saw her.

Everyone was delighted. Once they'd calmed down a little, Giles spoke again.

"We're going to have to be very careful regarding Spike for quite a while. We can't push him too hard at first. I'll work with him and try to help him find his way back."

An hour or so later Giles went back down to Spike, this time alone since Spike hadn't even ventured from the bed after being unchained. He figured he'd be safe. He carried down a mug of hot liquid, the steam rising gently as he walked down the steps. He sat on the stool once more, making a note to himself to bring something down that was a little more comfortable if he had to do this again.

"Here Spike, drink this." he said, holding out the mug.

Spike looked at it suspiciously, then took it and sniffed at it.

"It's ok, it's just honey and lemon. It'll soothe your vocal chords. They'll feel pretty sore after not being used for so long."

Spike took a tentative sip, enjoying the taste and relaxed, drinking it slowly.

"Are you up to talking, Spike?"

"I….er…..I think so." he replied, his voice still sounding hoarse and lower than Giles remembered.

"You don't remember any of us, do you?"

Spike shook his head.

"Do you remember when you were born?" asked Giles.

"Four hundred and six days ago." said Spike automatically.

"What?" said Giles, "Why did you say that?"

Spike looked at Giles in confusion. _"Is he trying to catch me out?"_

"You asked when I was born." He croaked, "I told you."

"Oh!" said Giles, suddenly doing the math, "That's how long you've been in The Initiative. Do you remember anything before then?"

"Not really, I tried to but……I couldn't." said Spike, hanging his head. "They said nothing that happened before that mattered; was no good to me, and it wasn't. It's gone."

"Hey Spike, it's ok. They've messed with you so much - it's not your fault." soothed Giles, his heart going out to the broken vampire before him.

Spike just shrugged his shoulders but didn't lift his head.

"I don't know who I am. I know what I am, a worthless demon, not fit to exist" he whispered. "I don't know what to do unless I'm told to do it. I'm scared."

"Scared of what?" asked Giles.

"Everything." said Spike, "All the time."

"You don't need to be afraid anymore, Spike, we'll help you."

"Been told this before." said Spike, finally raising his eyes to meet Giles, "But they lied, why should you be any different?"

Giles was taken aback, "Um….well…we haven't hurt you."

"Yet." said Spike.

"I don't know what I can say to make you trust me, Spike, it's different here. All I can say is you don't need permission to eat or do or say anything and you won't be punished."

"Leave." said Spike.

"Sorry?"

"Do I need permission to leave?" asked Spike.

"Um….." said Giles.

"Not so different then." said Spike baldly.

"We're trying to help you, Spike. I don't think you'd be safe out there on your own right now."

"Why did you take me? Why am I here?"

"I told you, it's because we're your friends. You fought by our sides. We had to get you out of there and bring you home." said Giles, trying to get through Spike's understandable paranoia.

Home. The word again hit him in his non-beating heart.

"Am I really home?" asked Spike, his voice cracking.

"Yes." said Giles. "You did have your own place, a crypt, but you were here a lot looking after Dawn."

"Dawn?"

"One of your friends. There are five of us upstairs. Do you want to meet us all? It may help unlock some memories for you." asked Giles.

"Er….ok." said Spike, trying to focus on the fact that this was 'home' and not The Initiative, where more than three people near him at one time indicated that something was going to happen - be it fight or some other test, either of which meant pain.

Giles went upstairs to get the others. Spike stood up and fidgeted with his hands, then stopped himself – not allowed – then started again. According to Giles the rules didn't matter anymore. God, his brain hurt with the effort of it all. He wearily rubbed a hand over his face. When he put it down five people were standing in front of him. He'd been so immersed in his thoughts he hadn't heard them arrive.

He gave out a startled yelp, taking an involuntary step back, hitting the bed and sitting down with a crash that had the bedsprings singing. He stood back up quickly in panic.

They were all looking at him, smiling, then there was a snort from one of the girls, followed by a fit of giggles and soon all five were laughing hysterically. It had been so long since Spike had heard proper laughter he just stood staring back at them in amazement.

"Sorry Spike." gasped Giles, "It did just look so funny, you falling down like that."

"Er….yeah….well….." stuttered Spike, not knowing how to answer.

The rest of them managed to curb their giggles that were as much a result of nerves at meeting Spike as of his bouncing down on the bed.

"Right then, Spike, you know me so I'll let the others introduce themselves." said Giles, he nodded to Willow.

"Hi Spike, I'm Willow, er…I'm the one that managed to reverse what they'd done to you. You once tried to bite me but the…er….chip…stopped you, then you've sort of helped us out ever since.

She spoke so quickly Spike could hardly understand what she said.

"I'm Dawn, Buffy's sister." she said, pointing at the slayer. "You looked after me a lot when Buffy di…er went away."

Spike looked at the dark haired girl standing in front of him. He felt a sharp stab of pain in his head not like when the chip fired but enough to make him bring his hand up to his head and lean forward a little.

"Niblet." he whispered.

"That's right! That's what you call me." cried Dawn, her face splitting in to a wide smile.

If this was 'Niblet' he really was 'home ' That was part of what he'd tried to keep. He looked Dawn in the eye and smiled at her, fragments of memories surfacing.

"It's real." said Spike, "I am home, it's over." With a soft sigh he sat down on the bed and put his head in his hands. "Oh God." He started to shake.

"Yes, you're home now, Spike." said Buffy, sitting next to him on the bed. She touched his arm and he lifted his head from his hands and looked at her his eyes glistening with tears. "I'm Buffy." she added quietly, leaning forward and kissing his cheek. He looked at her, eyes widening in surprise, and touched his cheek. The tears glistening in his eyes overflowed and fell down his cheeks.

Xander started to fidget. Spike looked up at him, wiping his tears with the heels of his hands.

"I'm Xander, and for the record I'm not really your friend but you looked after Dawnie and Buffy obviously is…er…your friend and she's my friend so that's it."

"Huh?" said Spike.

"Look, I don't like you but I won't hurt you ok?"

"Ok." said Spike. Looking at the others he added, "Is he always this friendly?"

Everyone chuckled, even Spike, though it sounded a little strange.

Shall we go upstairs? It's a bit comfier than down here." suggested Giles.

They all went towards the steps, Spike walking a little behind them. It was all feeling a bit surreal to him. Buffy took his hand.

"Come on." She smiled at him and he let her lead him upstairs.

They settled in the lounge, Spike, Buffy and Dawn on the sofa, the other three in the armchairs. They sat there, just making small talk, all feeling very awkward with Spike not contributing to the conversation.

Then Dawn leapt up and rushed to the kitchen. She emerged moments later holding a mug in one hand, the other hidden behind her back.

"Here." she said, presenting the mug to Spike. He took it from her and had a little taste.

"Don't suppose you've got any of those mini marshmallows?" he said without thinking.

Dawn laughed and brought out the hand from behind her and held it out to Spike. She opened it and in her palm were the marshmallows. She dropped them in to his mug of hot chocolate.

"That's another conditioned reflex." said Giles, regretting the words as soon as they left his mouth.

"It's a better one than most." said Spike in to the silence that followed, as they were all once again thinking about what Spike had been through.

"We've got to shut that place down." said Buffy adamantly.

"The question is how?" said Giles, "Spike, if you're up to it tomorrow, we'll have to get you to tell us all you know about The Initiative."

Spike tensed and his hand shook spilling some of his hot chocolate.

"Er…yeah." he said, "Um…..is it…er….I mean….can I go back to my cell….room, it's just….."

"Of course you can." said Giles as Spike's words trailed off.

"Thanks." said Spike, "Sorry." And he left the room, Buffy following him. He made his way to his bed and sat on it, his back leaning against the wall, with legs drawn up. Buffy sat down next to him.

"Spike?"

"Mm."

"It'll be ok, you'll be ok. I know you don't remember me or any of us very well but you and me, well we were together before …..and I'm just so glad to have you back.."

"Together?" said Spike, tilting his head on one side as he looked at her.

"Yes."

She reached out with her hand and took hold of his chin, pulling him towards her, she kissed him on the mouth, tongue seeking his. He responded by kissing her back ardently and pulling her into his arms. The springs of the bed protested loudly as they lay down together.

Buffy was breathlessly opening his jeans when his hand stopped her.

"I can't." he whispered.

"Can't?" said Buffy, "My God, did they….."

"No." he cut off her words, "Not can't then, won't, ok?" said Spike as he sat up.

"But, why not? You seemed like you were enjoying it, and it might help you remember me. What's wrong?"

"It's just……when I told Giles I didn't remember anything before I was in The Initiative….I wasn't completely honest. I remembered one thing." He paused, "You."

"You remembered me? But you didn't seem to recognise me?"

"I didn't."

Buffy sat up, "What do you mean? You're not making any sense."

"I remember being dumped, getting pissed and getting caught. I didn't remember who, after a while like everything else that got disappeared but for the first couple of months I was in there they used that everyday. I was sure you'd come to help me. But you never did."

'No one misses you. It's like you were never born. Worthless. Such a mess couldn't even stand up. Pathetic.'

"They said that everyday. I walked in there, you know? They didn't trap me, stun me like the first time. Nope, I walked down with the two soldiers who found me, like they were my buddies. All they had to do was promise me more liquor and let me whine about you."

"I'm so sorry, Spike. It's all my fault, everything that's happened to you."

"No, it isn't your fault, it's my own. Like they said I was pathetic, but why are you here with me now if you dumped me four hundred and six days ago? I don't want your sympathy because you're feeling bloody guilty."

He stood up and walked restlessly across the room.

"Spike, no, it's not like that. It was a mistake. I was afraid to tell my friends. I went to find you the next day but you'd gone and no one knew where. I love you Spike, I truly love you."

She walked over to him and put her arms around him.

"I love you Spike, I've missed you so much."

He kissed her, his body certain he loved her even if his mind was still unsure. She was stirring more than his memories up.

"That's alright then." he said with a bit of a grin that was the nearest he'd come to pre-Initiative Spike so far.

Later they were in each other's arms, talking.

"One thing I still don't understand….. look, I know you got me out and that you, uh, seem to , um, well like me quite a bit."

He grunted as she elbowed him in his ribs.

"Love you, you dope."

"Yeah, well, anyway, what I don't get is that you've been in The Initiative a lot. I've heard you in there and you watched with The Professor as she tested my right- handed weapon skills. Why are you a part of it?"

"I'm not. It's just when we found out about the place we thought we'd find out more by getting in and cooperating than by avoiding it. The day I saw you in there I couldn't believe it. I'd tried to see if there'd been any new captures when you disappeared but the ones I saw never included you. I hadn't been allowed in to the section where you were held until the day I saw you." said Buffy.

"So you did try to find me?" asked Spike quietly.

"I've already told you I did. When you went away I thought you'd left because of me, that I'd hurt you so badly you didn't want to stay around. I thought I'd missed my chance to be with you, so yes, I did try. I never really stopped trying."

"Sorry, Buffy, it's just my head is so messed up. This feels right." he said, pointing at himself then at her, "But it's so hard to tell what's real and what isn't, what's me and what's them."

He went and sat back down on the bed. Buffy held him in her arms and he fell asleep. She slipped back upstairs and let him rest; he'd had quite a day.

To be continued……..


	9. Memories

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I merely own the plot!

Thanks as always to Carol, my beta. :)

Chapter Nine

**Memories**

Spike had slept for hours, not hearing Buffy when she came to check on him. He'd woken up in the early hours of the morning and now could hear them all in the kitchen.

He was still trying to psyche himself up to go up the stairs without being told to when Giles called down to him.

"Spike! Are you awake? Are you going to join us for breakfast?"

"Yeah, thanks." answered Spike in relief. _"Phew, that was well timed."_

Trying to go against what had been ingrained for over a year was hard work.

He went in to the kitchen and sat in the only empty chair, which happened to be next to Buffy. As soon as he sat down Dawn put a plate of pancakes in front of him.

"Um, thanks Dawn, but where's my blood?"

He was starving as he'd missed his evening meal the night before, having fallen asleep. He had a moment's panic that they were going to starve him of blood like at The Initiative, then, he looked at their faces and remembered these were good people. Some memories had surfaced of them whilst he slept, more feelings than images and he knew he loved Buffy and she did him. He felt protective towards Dawn and Willow. The two men were harder to figure out, but he did feel safe.

"Oh? Is that all you want?" said Dawn, "You used to love pancakes."

"I did?" said Spike, "It's just I can't remember having anything else."

"Yeah, well blood keeps you going but you've always liked other things too." replied Dawn.

He tried a mouthful of pancake dripping in maple syrup.

"Mm, you're not wrong, these are good."

Ooooooooo

Once breakfast was over and the table cleared away, Willow went to work on hacking into The Initiative's computer system to find out as much as she could about security and what the place's goals were. Maggie Walsh had quite openly shown them that they'd trained Spike as a weapon so what were they up to that they hadn't shared yet? There must be something.

"Spike." said Giles, handing him a notepad and pen, "Can you write down all that you can recall of your time in there? Not so much what methods they used on you, more the layout of the place or whether you can remember anything you may have overheard them talking about - other projects and so on."

"Ok." said Spike. He sat and thought for a while, brought pen to paper, then stopped.

"Um, seems I've got a bit of a problem." said Spike quietly.

"What's the matter? Can't you remember? Willow deactivated the chip so that shouldn't be stopping you anymore." said Buffy.

"No, I can remember stuff, it's just…er….thing is….I don't seem to be able to write." said Spike, putting the pen down in frustration and looking up at the others.

"Is it your hand? Is it not working properly still?" asked Xander.

"No." snapped Spike, raising his voice for the first time. "I just don't know how to write." He cringed, waiting for the chip to punish him for his anger but it didn't kick in.

Giles picked up a newspaper and pushed it along the table to Spike.

"Can you read the headline?" he asked.

Spike looked at it, frowned as he concentrated then shook his head.

"No, haven't a bloody clue as to what it says. It's like with the talking. When the chip was stopping me I knew what I wanted to say but it was like I'd never known how to transfer that into words. This is the same. I just can't remember reading anything ever though I must have done so, right?"

"You certainly did," said Giles, "This must be due to the chip being degraded like Willow said."

"Is it fixable?" asked Buffy.

Beside her, Spike tensed and slid back in his chair a bit when Buffy spoke. She looked at him realising that 'fixing' was an Initiative term.

"Sorry, Spike. I mean, can we put it right?"

Spike relaxed again, looking embarrassed.

"It's ok, just my head's still pretty messed up. Some things just make me react without knowing."

"Don't worry Spike." said Giles, "It'll take time for it all to settle down. As to whether we can sort it out, I'm not sure, but we can work on it."

"Great." said Spike, "They've even managed to turn me into a bleeding retard."

"Well, you were never exactly Einstein in the first place." said Xander.

Spike glared at him, grateful that the anger sensor was no longer active.

"Not helping." snapped Buffy.

"Look, stop it." said Giles sharply, "We've got more to worry about than sniping at each other. Buffy, you're going to see Maggie today, aren't you? See if you can catch a glimpse of anything in that area where we found Spike. You can recount it to me and I'll take notes. Xander, go and get more blood, but make sure no one sees you."

"I'll come with." said Dawn.

Ooooooo

Buffy headed out to The Initiative. It was the first time since Spike's escape that she'd been asked to go in and she was a little nervous about exactly what Maggie Walsh wanted from her. She was so sure the woman had a hidden agenda, even more so since she showed her Spike, but still had no real idea of what it was.

She was taken to Maggie as soon as she entered. The professor was in the area where she'd discovered Spike. So far so good - she still wanted to show her 'best' subjects to her.

"Buffy, thank you for coming." said Maggie.

"Yeah, you know me, anything to help." said Buffy in reply, suppressing the urge to tear the woman's face off for what she'd done to Spike.

"We still have no news of No. 17. It's most frustrating. No doubt whoever stole it will use it at some point or demand a ransom and we'll be able to take it back. But enough of that, I have others I want you to see."

She led Buffy away to a viewing gallery attached to one of the operating theatre rooms. Maggie proudly talked Buffy through what the surgeons were doing. Buffy tried to remain impassive but she felt sick to her stomach. They were transplanting arms from one demon to another, basically swapping them over. Both demons had defensive systems in their arms, one, a Polgara demon, could draw out a skewer of bone that was like a spear, and the other, a Werdna, had retractable venomous claws. Maggie's voice was still droning on.

"So we will be able to discover whether the creatures use the different weapons they now have, whether it's a purely physical thing, whether it's something they have to learn to use, or whether they're unable to because they weren't born with it."

"_God this is like Frankenstein's Monster in here."_

"Have you done this before? Have you had any success?" she managed to force her voice to sound calm.

"We've done it very successfully where the limbs didn't contain weapons, but were just ordinary arms. The transplants took and the creatures soon regained full use. Come, I'll show you."

Maggie led Buffy down a corridor accessed only by opening the door with a security code. Here there were other cells similar to the ones that had held Spike, and inside was every shape, size and colour of demon you could imagine. All had had limbs transplanted from another species; some limbs were obviously very similar to their own but further down the row the sights were more horrendous. Some demons had limbs attached that were the wrong size. Buffy saw arms so long they literally touched the ground and so short they could barely reach the poor creature's mouth. It wasn't just arms, but legs too, again starting with ones in proportion and getting worse until some clearly couldn't take the weight of the demon they'd been transplanted on.

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Buffy, unable to stop herself when she saw one demon.

"Ah yes," said Maggie in that flat dispassionate voice, "We wondered what would happen with this one but animals cope with whatever you do to them as you'll see."

She pressed a button and a lump of meat was dropped in with the demon. It picked it up and started to eat it, pulling chunks off with its teeth as it held it in its hands.

"It was feeding itself normally after only a few days." continued Maggie.

"But its arms." said Buffy, trying and failing to disguise the disgust she felt. "They're on backwards."

She could scarcely watch as the demon was coping with elbows that bent the wrong way.

"Yes, they're its own limbs but we wanted to see if it could fend for itself and also fight. It's been amazingly successful. It's one of my favourites.

"Why?" said Buffy, feeling distinctly green.

"I'm sorry?"

"What purpose can this possibly serve?" said Buffy.

"It's very important research for our other projects." said Maggie. She glanced at a door near them as she spoke.

Buffy turned to look at it. It was solid steel, with no window, so it gave no indication of what was behind it. Written in bold letters to the left of it were the numbers 314. Buffy was going to ask Maggie about it but when she'd turned around Maggie had walked away. Shortly afterwards, her tour complete, Buffy hurried home.

oooooooo

She found Spike and Giles still going through the things Spike knew. Spike looked a bit ragged, the memories it evoked were not of the good.

"Hi guys." she said, walking in and flopping on the sofa next to Spike, "You will not believe what I've just seen."

Buffy recounted her visit to Spike and Giles, the others drifting in to the room to listen too.

"Oh yes, then she glanced over at this door as she spoke. I'm not sure she even knew she had. I didn't get a chance to ask her about it but I'm sure that the answers we want will be behind that door marked 314. Whatever is going on in that place, that's the key to it."

"My brother." said Spike in an odd sounding voice.

"What?" they chorused as one.

"Three fourteen, that's where my brother is." His voice was strangely monotone, eyes distant. "She says she's my mother since I was born there, but he's the one she loves best because she created him. I'm to help him when he's ready to come into this world. I must defend him. That's my only true purpose, when I'm with Adam I must protect him." He stood up and walked a few steps before stopping and looking around in confusion.

"Huh? Why are you all staring at me?" he sat back down.

"You don't remember what you just said?" asked Giles.

"Um." said Spike, rubbing his hands over his face as he concentrated hard, "Yeah, yeah I do but it was like I was listening to it. I kinda wasn't in control when I said it; it was weird."

"It's part of the conditioning that you were subjected to. They obviously wanted to instil loyalty to this Adam. You never mentioned him in all we've been through today; it must have been hidden in your subconscious." said Giles.

"God, Spike, you're shaking like a leaf." said Buffy, taking one of Spike's hands in hers. "Are you ok?"

"I guess so. I mean I'm here on the sofa with you guys, but I feel…..scared, but excited too, it's hard to explain."

"Can you tell us anything else about this Adam?" asked Giles.

"No, just that." replied Spike.

"Now I've a reference I'll go see what I can find in their files on 314 and Adam." said Willow.

Oooooo

Later as they were going to bed, Buffy walked down with Spike and they kissed and held each other for a time. The sights she'd witnessed that day put paid to her libido, and as she went to leave Spike to go to her room, he asked her to chain him up before she did so.

"There's no need, Spike, I'm not chaining you up. Why would you want to be? You could come up to my room with me."

"Look, upstairs I said stuff I didn't really know I was saying. I got up and started to walk away. Buffy, I'm a vampire. What if something else sets me off? I'm not risking it so fasten this lock."

"Ok." agreed Buffy as he did have a point.

Spike's sleep was riddled with memory-filled dreams, mostly relating to 314 and Adam, who struck fear in his non -beating heart. He'd seen demons go in there and bodies come out missing limbs. He'd seen the professor and her assistant going in there and heard whispered conversations about Adam's aims and functions. He woke with a start. He knew what had to be done. He knew what he had to do. He got up.

"_No time to waste, got to get the others up to tell them."_

He'd also gotten more parts of his pre-Initiative memories back. He remembered more of the people upstairs, remembered more of Buffy and it made him even more certain of what he had to do. 

He took a stride away from the bed and was stopped by the chain on his right wrist.

"Bollocks."

He sat back down and waited impatiently for morning.

To be continued……


	10. You're going Where?

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon etc own BtVS!

Thanks as always to Carol! My beta extraordinaire! 

Chapter Ten 

**You're going where?**

As soon as Spike heard the door open he stood up. Buffy walked down the steps and over to him, but when she went to kiss him he brushed her aside.

"Not now, pet, just get this thing off of me." he said.

"Wow. Grumpy much?" said Buffy. "Didn't sleep too good, huh?"

"More like hardly at all, I've got stuff to tell you so hurry up." He waved his wrist at her.

"Ok, ok."

As soon as the chain fell from his wrist Spike bolted upstairs. Buffy ran up after him. Everyone was in the kitchen as Spike burst in to the room.

"You must be really hungry." said Willow as he marched in.

"Not really, no, just got to tell you, I had dreams, well memories last night and this 314, this Adam is major bad news. I remembered all sorts of stuff. They're creating something back there that is designed to surpass all demons and if it works they plan to make an army of them. It'll make what they did to me look like child's play. It's evil and it's going to be out of control. I think The Professor is working for herself, not The Initiative on this. I spent a few days in the area near 314 when they were working on me. She went in there in the middle of the night - I don't think she knew I was with it enough to take it in and anyway I couldn't tell anyone about it, could I? To be honest it wasn't until you triggered that response that I did think there was anything wrong about it, but she'd go in there with computer equipment. I think she's reprogramming whatever Adam is for her own ends. She worked on me a bit at night too; that's when she'd say she was my mother and that I had a brother. I remembered more about you guys too, this is what you do – stop evil."

"Boy, is it a good thing that you don't need to breathe." said Xander.

"Yes, that was quite a speech, Spike," said Giles, "Are you sure they weren't just dreams that you were having?"

"Christ, Giles, half of what I've said I figured out since I woke up!"

"Spike, chill." said Buffy, "Just calm down a bit." she added before he could open his mouth to protest.

Spike tried to get a grip. He took a couple of deep breaths, sat down and tried again.

"Look, I'm sorry but I've been awake for hours and I don't think we've got much time to waste. I think Adam is nearly ready to make his presence felt."

"So what do you propose we do?" asked Giles.

Spike looked at them all. He couldn't believe what he was about to say, but there was no other way without putting the others at serious risk.

"I have to go back in." he said.

Everyone started talking at once.

"Enough!" roared Giles. They all shut up.

"And why do you think you have to go back in? If you're locked up again how is that going to help us? asked Giles.

"I'm sure The Professor's plans included me. If I get back in it may put off Adam's debut for a time, whilst she….er….. checks me out. When it's going down I'll have to get word to you somehow and you can arrive with the cavalry."

"How do you intend to let us know? Got a phone in your cell I suppose?" said Giles.

"Well, it wouldn't matter if I did." said Spike as he turned to Willow, "Because Red here's going to have to put me back how I was."

Again, the cacophony of voices. Giles once more settled everyone down.

"No, hear me out, ok? It makes sense to have me inside right?" he looked round at Buffy and Giles, "Someone on the inside always gives an advantage." They nodded reluctantly. "If I go in there as I am now they're going to smell a rat. It's down to Red, really, Can you switch off my speech and my arm again but leave out the chip's mind control action? I can fake that but no way can I fake the arm or the speech."

"Why can't you just pretend not to talk too?" asked Dawn tearfully.

"Niblet, they'll probably do, um, stuff to me that would show my ability to speak." said Spike.

"But…." protested Dawn.

"Dawn, they're going to hurt him, to test him." said Buffy, she turned to Spike, "Aren't they?"

"That's the way The Initiative works." said Spike.

"Without the mind control how can you fake it if she does something like when she made you take that hot silencer off? How will you be able to do that? If they realise you're deprogrammed, they'll kill you." said Buffy.

"I can do that. I've endured so much pain, I know I can do it. I just disconnect myself from it; it's how I survived where others didn't, I reckon. Just because they order you to do something it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, you just don't take any notice until later." said Spike.

The others were silent, barely able to comprehend what he'd been through.

"Plus I think the worst that will happen is that she'll reprogram me. She's invested too much time in me to just kill me, so if I get reprogrammed you guys'll have to sort me out again or kill me, but Adam must be stopped."

"Ok, let's back up a little." said Giles, "If you're mute how can you get in touch with us?"

Spike once again turned to Willow.

"I'm remembering that you're pretty good with the mo-jo. Is there anyway you can get it so that we can talk to each other in our thoughts? Is it possible?"

"Yes." said Willow, "If we practice a bunch of times, it'll be easy to find the link when you need to, plus we'll know if she gets into your mind because I'll check in regularly and I won't be able to if she's controlling you."

"I don't want you back in there, Spike." said Buffy.

"Can't say I want to but I have to. They'll have your number before you get within two hundred yards of Adam, least this way we'll get in close before we do anything. I've thought about it all night, it's the only way." Spike was adamant.

Reluctantly Buffy agreed on the condition that he and Willow had to prove to her they could communicate after she'd messed with the chip.

"So when do we do it?" said Giles, "and how are you going to arrive back? You can't just walk in."

"I did last time." He smiled at Buffy, wishing he hadn't said it as he saw her wince. "I'm sure the chip includes instructions to get back to The Professor if anything goes wrong. I reckon if I hadn't been tied up and told to sit on the bed, and you left me at the door I would've headed straight there. As for when? Tonight, there's no time to lose."

"Oh!" squeaked Willow, "It'll take me a while to program the computers so I'd better get started." She hurried out of the room.

"Are you certain you want to do this?" asked Giles, "I'm sure we could figure something else out."

"Look, it's the best way and you know it." said Spike.

Buffy looked at Spike. God, how could she have doubted her love for him? She'd gotten used to the short brown hair by now, it didn't emphasise the blue of his eyes as much as the blond did but it suited him. He still had the cheekbones to die for, more so now as he was so lean. He caught her eye and winked at her; she nearly melted.

To be continued……..


	11. Honey, I'm Home!

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I own nothing in the Buffyverse.

Thanks to my hardworking beta Carol. :)

Chapter Eleven

**Honey, I'm home!**

By mid afternoon Willow was ready for Spike. She put him to sleep with a spell then Giles and Xander laid him on his front on the sofa so she could insert the probe. Dawn and Xander were banished to the kitchen.

"This feels wrong." said Willow as she started to insert the probe down the shunt until it touched the chip. "It's making me feel like I'm one of them."

"It is wrong Willow." said Giles, "It's a terrible thing to do to someone but Spike was right, he has to go back the way he came out."

"Doesn't mean we have to like it." added Buffy.

Willow pressed a few keys on the computer and used a little spell to help the probe deactivate his speech and his left arm. She reversed the sleeping spell and once Spike woke up they would know if it had been successful or not.

Spike and Willow had practised mind links during the morning until either could initiate contact with ease. Willow hoped she'd gotten the message to the chip correct and that Spike's mind wouldn't be controlled by it again.

Ten minutes later Spike woke up. They could see straight away that this left arm was once more paralysed. They sat watching him; once fully alert he sat up and looked down at his left arm with horror. A flicker of fear went through him; it was an awful feeling. He looked at the others.

"Well, that worked ok." he tried to say but once more had no way of conveying his words to his lips - nothing happened. He looked at Willow.

"_You did a good job."_ he projected to her mind.

"_Thanks, but I feel terrible for doing it."_ she replied so only Spike could hear.

"_It's ok Red, it had to be done. Hopefully you'll soon be putting it right again."_ He winked at her, showing a bravado he didn't really feel.

"It worked." said Willow to the others, "He can't speak, the arm well, that's pretty obvious and the fact we can mind link means the chip's not controlling him."

"No. 17." ordered Giles, "Stand up."

A blank look came over Spike's face and he stood up.

"Oh my God! The chip is working!" cried Buffy, "We can't send him in."

"_No, it's not pet." _he said in Willow's mind, sitting back down with a grin.

"He's joking." said Willow.

"Not funny!" yelled Buffy as threw a cushion at him.

Ooooooo

Soon it was dark and time for the final piece of work to be done on Spike. Buffy stood in front of him, tears in her eyes.

"I can't do it, I just can't." she said looking into Spike's eyes. He nodded at her, encouraging her.

"I'll do it, I don't mind." said Xander.

Both Buffy and Spike turned to glare at him. Before Spike had the chance to look back at Buffy, she screwed up her courage and hit him hard on the side of his face. The blow took him off his feet and he landed with a thud on his back. She raced over to him and hit him again, this time splitting his lip. She then held out her hand to help him up.

"God, are you ok?" she asked.

There was a cut at the side of his left eye, already swelling up, in addition to the split lip. Spike touched his face and saw the blood on his fingers. He nodded, then kissed her, pulling her close with his right hand as she collapsed sobbing against him.

Spike had insisted that he had to look like he'd fought his way out to allay suspicion of how he came to turn up. He looked at Willow.

"_Keep in touch, Red."_

"_I will."_ she replied.

He hugged Buffy even tighter, wiping her tears from her face with his hand before stepping outside of the door. He paused for a second on the step, fighting back tears of his own, then walked down the path and headed for The Initiative. As he passed a wall he punched it with his right hand, grazing the knuckles. Now it looked like he'd fought back.

He walked on, making sure he took the measured paces he had in The Initiative. It wasn't difficult. He was petrified at the thought of going back in but Adam had to be stopped and he had to protect Buffy.

As he'd predicted he soon ran into a patrol; he'd had it instilled in him that if Initiative soldiers approached with weapons drawn he was to put his hands on his head and kneel down so they knew he was no threat. This prevented them from using their tazers that could damage the chip.

"Stop right there." said one of the soldiers when he saw Spike.

"Vampire." said the other reading his thermal imager.

Spike immediately dropped to his knees and lifted his right hand to his head, careful not to make eye contact.

"Your left hand too, pal." said the first.

"_Crap, trust me to run in to a jumpy bleeder."_

Spike very slowly brought his right hand down, clutched his left wrist and pulled his hand back up to his head.

"Hey!" said the second soldier, "It's left arm doesn't work. It's one of ours, it's No. 17. Boy, is The Professor going to be pleased to see what we've found." He radioed his report in.

"No. 17." he ordered, "Stand up."

Spike stood up.

"Ok, take your hands away from your head and put them behind your back."

Spike obeyed but couldn't quite reach his left arm with his right arm going behind his back. After struggling for a minute, he felt his right arm being roughly grabbed and the soldier then brought his left back and tied the two wrists together with a plastic tie. Spike could feel it cutting into the flesh of his right wrist.

"Ok, No.17, we're walking back to the base. Stay at the side of Brian here; I'll be right behind you so don't try anything." He gave Spike a poke in the back with his weapon to reiterate his threat.

And so Spike was taken back to The Initiative. He fought the urge to turn and run. He'd forgotten what the place smelled like; it reeked of fear, pain, and suffering. When they were controlling him it was blocked out but now it felt like the first day he'd been captured.

He was led to a holding area where a chain was fastened around his neck. It was suspended from the ceiling in the centre of the room and so he was kept in a standing position. He hadn't been there for more than ten minutes when Maggie Walsh arrived, her assistant Michael following her.

"It **is** No. 17." she exclaimed in delight, "Well done, boys." she said to the soldiers, "We'll take it from here."

She walked to Spike and held his chin so she could turn his head to examine his bruises. He kept his eyes averted.

"He took a good hit there." she murmured.

She took a pair of strong scissors and cut the binding on his wrists, his left hand falling limply at his side.

"Ok. Get the chain off him and get him up to the operating rooms."

Michael unlocked the collar from around his neck.

"No. 17, go to the operation rooms." ordered Maggie.

"_Ok, so much for hoping I'd be put in a cell and left alone."_

Spike walked to the complex of rooms. He was ordered into a small room and told to strip. They just stood there and watched as he struggled with his t-shirt - he'd insisted on leaving his beloved duster at Buffy's house, not wanting to risk losing it in here. When he was finally naked, Michael ran a scanner over his body to see if he'd had any devices implanted.

"It's clean."

"Good." said Maggie.

"Where do you think it's been?" asked Michael.

"I don't know but it looks like our homing programming worked and it got out. Unfortunately, not without a fight. Look how its knuckles are bruised, too. Let's see if we can get some answers and check out the chip. No. 17, go to operation room one."

Spike obediently walked to the room. He still knew the plans to the base in his head. As Spike had thought, Maggie was going to test him to make sure her work hadn't been meddled with. He was ordered onto a table and was soon securely strapped down.

She picked up a scalpel and ran it down Spike's left arm. He looked at it curiously but couldn't feel a thing. Satisfied she closed the wound with sutures and looked Spike in the eye. He avoided the contact, looking away.

"No. 17, look at me." she ordered, and Spike did so. "Keep looking at me. This is going to hurt; if you want it to stop just tell me to. Do you understand?"

Spike nodded.

"_Oh, hell!"_

She took the scalpel blade and carved a small hole in his chest. Spike's eyes never left her face, then, God, Spike wanted to scream. He tried to scream, he tried to tell her to stop. She was pouring holy water into the wound and the pain was excruciating.

"No. 17, tell me to stop." she insisted, pouring more onto him, his flesh sizzling as if being burnt by acid.

He couldn't even begin to mouth the words. He hated this woman, she had to be stopped.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, No. 17. You know you're my son but we need to see what had been done to you, if anything." She smiled a terrible smile.

She walked to his right and thrust a wooden cross in to his hand.

"Hold on to that, No. 17."

Spike held the cross, his skin started to smoke but his eyes never wavered from Maggie's, his hatred of her giving him strength.

"No. 17, drop it."

He unclenched his fist and it fell with a clatter to the floor. That pain had been nothing compared to the pain in his chest.

"Right then, let's have a look at your chip." She walked away to get the instruments ready.

"_Red, Red, can you hear me?"_ Spike let his words carry to find the mind link.

"_Yes, Spike, I can, are you ok?"_

"_Well, I'm in. She's checking the chip in a minute. Give it thirty minutes and make contact again, ok?"_

"_Will do."_

Willow could sense his pain and fear.

"God, Spike, I hope we've done the right thing." she whispered to herself as she severed the link.

Spike couldn't stop himself from trembling as he heard the professor approach him once more. She fastened his head securely in to the brace, preventing any possible movement.

"Oh, No. 17, you've never gotten used to this really, have you? After all this time you'd think you would have. I just need to change a few things and make sure you haven't been messed with. I'm afraid I won't be anaesthetising you this time.

As she inserted the probe Spike bucked against his restraints - the pain was unbearable. He must have passed out as the next thing he knew Maggie was slapping his face to bring him around.

"Ah, you're back with us. The chip has degenerated a little so I had to dig a little deeper to get what I wanted done."

She unfastened the straps and told him to sit up. He did and a wave of nausea hit him as the pain in his head intensified. He bent double and vomited.

Maggie waited for it to pass then told him to stand up. He did and stood there swaying alarmingly. She told him to go in to a cell just around the corner and had to support him as he walked. She knew she was lucky he could walk at all after the probing she'd done, but she hadn't wanted to call for assistants to help as she hadn't wanted them to witness what she was doing with him. He just made it to the cell before collapsing to his knees.

"I'll see you in the morning." she said as she locked the cell door.

"_Spike? Can you hear me?"_ Willow's voice floated through his mind.

"_Yeah, talk later, ok?"_

The effort of replying was too much and he passed out.

Willow turned to the others. "I can still mind link but I think it'd have been better for him if I couldn't", said Willow, tears falling.

"Why, what do you mean?" asked Buffy, voice wavering.

"They've hurt him already, Buffy. Perhaps if he'd been under their control it might not have been so bad for him."

"I'll go in tomorrow and see what I can find out." said Buffy.

None of them slept well that night.

To be continued……


	12. Where Have You Been?

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I do not own anything regarding BtVS 

Thanks Carol!! It's appreciated.

Chapter Twelve

**Where Have You Been?**

Spike regained consciousness in the early hours of the morning and then promptly wished he hadn't. His head still felt like it wanted to explode; he lay there for a time before pain in his arm made him roll over onto his back. It was a few minutes before he realised that he'd been laid on his left arm. He raised it up and wriggled his fingers; it certainly wasn't paralysed anymore but it hurt like hell. He looked at the incision Maggie had cut earlier. It looked inflamed, which surprised him as his vampiric enhanced healing skills should have almost cured a sutured wound by now. He touched it and would have groaned if he could.

"_What the hell is going on with that?"_

He leant back against the wall and surprised himself by falling asleep again.

Oooooo

"No. 17." snapped a voice.

He started awake and struggled to his feet, keeping his eyes down.

"Follow me."

Spike followed the owner of the voice, a short fat man named Michael, the assistant, into one of the rooms containing a variety of equipment. In the centre was an ordinary office type desk and sitting at the far side of it was Maggie Walsh. He was ordered to sit down opposite her.

"Well, No. 17." said Maggie conversationally, "You're going to tell me where you've been and who took you."

Spike didn't know how she expected him to communicate and if she went into his mind to see the answers via the chip then all was lost - he wouldn't be able to lie to her.

She pushed a pen and paper to him.

"_Shit, when I can't write she'll go in my head for sure."_

He picked up the pen in his left arm, wincing at the pain from the wound.

"It was easy activating your arm again, but accessing your reading and writing skills were a lot more difficult. That's why your head was so painful, I'm afraid." said Maggie sounding anything but sorry, "Let's hope it's worked. I've got a feeling if I use the chip many more times you won't survive it and after all my hard work it would be a terrible waste. I will ask you questions and you will write down the answers. Understood?"

Spike nodded.

"Where were you taken?"

He picked up the pen and to his delight he managed to form words; his writing untidy but legible and his spelling atrocious, but he managed to write.

TO A WEARHOWSE

"Were they human?"

NO VAMPYRE AND DEAMON

(they'd decided it was best not to include humans in the cover story)

"What did they do to you when they got you to the warehouse?"

PUT IN KAGE.

"Did they access your chip?"

NO

"What did they want you to do?"

FITE AN STEEL

"Fight? What did they want you to fight and why?"

OTHA VAMP 4 MUNNY.

"Like a prize fighter you mean?"

Spike nodded.

"And the stealing? What did they want you to steal?"

DUNNO LEAFT BEAFOUR TOLD

"Did you fight?"

Spike shook his head.

"Why not?"

NOT TELL ME RITE.

"Ah, gave the wrong commands." said Maggie, delighted her conditioning had worked even away from the base.

"How did they get you to the warehouse if they didn't use proper commands?"

DUNNO WOKE UP THER

"Mm, they had all of us unconscious one way or another." she said to herself.

"What commands did they give to try to make you fight?"

NOT NUMBA 17 SED SPIIK

(They'd decided this to try to make it appear that it was someone who recognised Spike but had no access to The Initiative.)

"Do you know what Spike means?"

He shook his head.

"Write it down." ordered Maggie. It was important to establish whether the vampire had remembered its previous name.

NO

"How did you get away?"

HAD TO GET BAK TO MUTHA. WEN OPENN KAGE TO FEAD ME OWNLY WAN THER SO GOT UP AN LEAFT KAGE TRYD TO STOP ME SO HIT HIM HE HIT ME HIT HIM AGEN AN NOT GET UP SO LEAFT TO GET HOME SOLDYERS ELP

(He hoped he'd manage to pick the right phrases, his lack of literacy actually helping him.)

"Well done, No. 17, you did the right thing." said Maggie.

She had him returned to his cell. Once they'd left he sat down and started to shake, nerves hitting him after the event. If she hadn't believed him it would have been over, but she seemed satisfied with him.

"_Red?"_ he sent the words floating through his mind.

She replied immediately.

"_Spike! You're ok?"_

"_Yeah, think they've bought the story. She'd messed with the chip and I managed to write it down for her. Not sure what she's got planned but she's pleased to have me back."_

"_Buffy will be there in an hour, she's hoping she'll be able to snoop about."_

"_For God's sake tell her to be careful."_

"_Will do, I'll check in later to see how you are."_

"_Ok."_ said Spike.

The mind link severed and he felt very alone. He tried not to think about what might happen to him, but he couldn't lie to himself - being in here petrified him. He looked around to see what he could see from his cell. He'd been put in a different one than where he'd been before his interview with The Professor. He realised he was directly opposite 314. He sat and watched but didn't see anyone go in or out of the door. He scratched absentmindedly at the suture line on his left arm.

Oooooo

Buffy was taken directly to Maggie Walsh on her arrival at The Initiative.

"Hello, Buffy, we had some good news last night. We recovered No. 17." said Maggie.

"Oh? That's great." said Buffy, forcing a smile, "Is he ok?"

"Yes, we were worried it had been targeted because of a leak here but it turns out it was just opportunists who recognised the vampire and knew it'd been taken by us. I think when they saw it obeying me to fight you, they thought it would do whatever they wanted but without knowing it's name they didn't get anywhere. Its conditioning dictates if no correct orders are given it must find its way back to the base and that worked beautifully. It was picked up by a patrol and responded as trained. We've run tests and all seems to be fine."

Maggie led Buffy down to the cell containing Spike.

"No. 17." said Maggie.

Spike stood up and faced them, glad he had to keep his eyes downcast as he was feeling very self-conscious about standing there naked in front of Buffy now that he remembered her.

"What's wrong with his arm? It's all sore." said Buffy when she saw the inflamed wound, made worse by Spike's scratching.

"Oh, it had the wound when he was recovered by the patrol, probably didn't even know it was cut as remember its arm was paralysed when he was taken. I did a bit of work on the chip last night and got his arm working again and managed to reverse the block we had on its literacy skills."

"Why do anything about that?" asked Buffy.

"We don't want the creatures to be able to write. We found that they would scratch words in the cells which could incite trouble and the reading skills just go hand in hand with that. I needed to find out where No. 17 had been and that was the best way of doing it." replied Maggie.

"Why didn't you just give him back his speech?"

"Because I didn't want to have to go back in there to turn it off again. It doesn't matter now if this one can read or write, it's at such a level that it is incapable of doing anything except what we tell it to do.

Buffy had been looking at Spike the whole time. As Maggie turned to leave, Spike raised his eyes to meet Buffy's and winked at her; she then mouthed 'I love you'. He smiled and nodded in reply.

"Come let me show you more." said Maggie and Buffy reluctantly had to turn away.

Spike watched until she went out of sight then sat down, once more scratching at his arm, despite the pain it caused.

"_What have they done to it?"_

oooooo

"What's in there?" asked Buffy, pointing to the door with 314 written at the side of it, never being the best at subtlety.

"Just the records room." said Maggie, leading her swiftly by.

Apart from once more being appalled at the experiments done on their prisoners Buffy learnt nothing of 314. What if Spike had been wrong about it? His mind had been messed with so much; what if he'd got it wrong and he was back in here for nothing? She decided that if nothing had been discovered in two days she was coming to get him out regardless of what he or anyone else wanted.

To be continued…….


	13. Meet Your Brother

Universal Vampire

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Chapter Thirteen

Meet Your Brother

"Number Seventeen." It was Maggie's voice.

Spike stood up. It was the middle of the night, and all the staff, save for a couple manning security, had left long ago. He'd been awake, expecting her to come. She opened the door.

"Come with me."

He went through it and walked by her side to the door of 314. She pushed some numbers on a keypad, hidden from Spike's view, and its lock opened with a click. She stepped through the doorway first, which was a good thing as Spike was rooted to the spot for a second before he got a grip and followed her. This place made all the other operation rooms look like kiddies' playthings; it was crammed with equipment of every description. He followed her to a table.

"Lie down on it, Number Seventeen," ordered Maggie.

"_Bollocks!"_

What else could he do but obey? The door was too heavy to break open and he had no insight as to the plans of these rooms; which obviously were not included in the chip's data. Security would be here in seconds. He got on the table and lay down, fighting panic when she strapped him down so securely he couldn't move.

To his relief, she didn't start to access the chip but turned her attention to the wound on his left arm, which by now had burst a few stitches and was weeping pus. He gritted his teeth as she started to remove the other sutures.

"Mm," said Maggie to herself, "This is a little disappointing, but perhaps not surprising. I had hoped this would have healed over."

She swabbed at the wound, then took a pair of forceps and, to Spike's astonishment, she removed a thin strip of what looked to be green scaly skin, about four inches long. He hadn't seen her put anything in the wound when she'd cut it.

"It's grown as expected," continued Maggie. Spike realised that she was recording her findings. "But it was too irritating to the host to remain in place."

She cleaned the wound out completely, cutting away any necrotic flesh.

"Now inserting specimen B," she said as she put a tiny white object, about the size of half a grain of rice, into the wound and resutured it again.

She untied the restraints.

"Number Seventeen, get off the bed."

Spike was happy to oblige, having to resist looking at his arm to see what she'd done.

"Time to meet your big brother," said Maggie. "Come with me, Number Seventeen."

Spike followed through a door leading onto a corridor and then into another room. He was ordered to sit down on a high backed metal chair and was promptly strapped to it. Maggie went out of a connecting door to the left and returned a few minutes later.

"Adam, here is your brother, Number Seventeen," she announced.

Spike couldn't believe what he was seeing, his mind boggled. The man - well, parts of it were human - standing in front of him was huge with metal plates covering part of his face and chest. His face was partly human, his limbs were demon in origin and from several different species.

"_God, I was right. She really has been making a monster."_

Adam walked over to Spike and looked down at him.

"I want to test him," said Adam.

"That's why I've brought him here," said Maggie, untying Spike.

"_This isn't going to be good."_

"Number Seventeen, get up and come with us," she ordered.

The three of them then made their way to a room that was completely empty. Spike could see what looked suspiciously like blood stains all over the room.

"_Gulp!"_

Adam and Spike went into the room, Maggie closing the door behind them.

"Adam, do not kill Number Seventeen. He is the only one at the right stage to be a help to us. It will be months before he can be replaced."

"Yes, Mother," replied Adam, starting to walk towards Spike.

Spike retreated, not willing to strike the first blow. The creature was head and shoulders taller than he was and considerably heavier. He didn't have long to wait before Adam made contact; with apparently no effort he swiped Spike off his feet and flung him through the air, slamming him in to the wall opposite. Before Spike could get up, Adam picked him up and threw him across the room, once more hitting the wall. This time Spike got to his feet and landed a couple of hard punches, which had no effect on Adam at all. Adam responded by punching Spike viciously in the stomach. He doubled over and fell to the floor. Spike felt something sharp touch the back of his neck. He froze.

"Adam! No!" shouted Maggie.

"All right, Mother," said Adam, and the pressure was removed.

A huge hand gripped Spike's shoulder and pulled him up to his feet. Spike could see the weapon that had been put on his neck. It was a bone skewer that jutted out of Adam's arm, a Polgara demon's arm. As he watched it retracted back out of sight.

"My brother needs to be stronger," said Adam. "He will hold me back otherwise."

"Yes, Adam, I'm going to work on that, but its fighting skills against any but you have been top class so far. I will show you," replied Maggie.

She opened the door and let Adam out of the room, leaving Spike inside. A panel slid back in the side wall of the room and with a roar a Netsrik demon bounded into the room, running on all fours.

"_And my day just gets better."_

The creature attacked; it was almost like a huge werewolf apart from the fact that it wasn't governed by the phases of the moon. Oh yes, and its fangs were venomous. One good bite and you had about ten minutes before paralysis set in and the area of the bite started to rot away.

Spike had never fought one and wished he had a weapon of some sort so he could get further away from its teeth. A Netsrik was the only demon a vampire truly feared as its venom was just as lethal to vampires as to humans, their enhanced healing skills no match for it.

Spike managed to get a few good kicks in, throwing the creature against the wall, but it got up too quickly for him to move in for the kill. Round and round the room they went. Spike was starting to tire but the demon just kept on coming. Spike's features hadn't changed despite drawing on all his vampiric strength - he hadn't even realised they hadn't, his conditioning being so deep.

He managed, once more, to hurl the Netsrik to the wall, and this time it was slower to get up. Spike saw his chance; he moved in to kill it, but it was a ploy and the demon turned as the vampire put his hands on its neck and it bit Spike hard on his right arm.

With an internal howl of pain and fear, Spike's vampiric features finally showed and despite the wound, he managed to hold on and break the creature's neck. It was over. He fell to his knees next to it, the paralysis hadn't yet kicked in but he was too exhausted to stand.

Spike looked at Maggie and Adam, if they didn't start to clean the wound soon he'd eventually die from the venom. It wasn't a pleasant death either. The paralysis didn't mean you couldn't feel pain, just that you couldn't move as your body slowly rotted away starting from the point of the wound.

"Adam, go and get Number Seventeen and bring him to the theatre," ordered Maggie.

"_Thank God."_

Spike was still too weak to stand. Adam picked him up as easily as if he were a child and carried him to the table where Spike had been previously that night. He tried not to count the minutes that had passed since he'd been bitten.

Once on the table, Maggie swiftly got to work, not wasting time with an anaesthetic. She started to clean the wound. It was severe, down to the bone just below his elbow. The pain on top of the exhaustion led Spike to pass out. When he came around, he was in his cell, his right arm bandaged from wrist to above his elbow. To say it hurt was an understatement.

He sat up and wriggled his fingers. They still worked, so it looked like he'd been tended to in time. He looked round him and realised he must still be within 314.

"_Willow? Willow? Can you hear me?"_ He sent the words across his mind, searching for her.

Nothing.

He tried again.

Still nothing.

"_Perhaps it's because I'm so knackered?"_

Spike was trying to convince himself but he was worried that being held within the 314 rooms meant he couldn't reach her.

He looked at the wound on his left arm where Maggie had put the object in. The wound itself had healed and didn't hurt at all, but he could see a raised track leading up his arm from the top edge of the wound. It was about six inches in length.

"_What the hell is going on there? Yeah, coming back in here was a great idea, Spike. Well done, mate. Couldn't have stayed with the woman you love, oh no, got to go be all sodding heroic."_

He drifted off in to an uneasy sleep to be woken by hearing his 'name' called sharply.

"Number Seventeen." He got to his feet. "Go back to your cell."

He made his way by Maggie's side to the door to the 314 complex and was put back into the cell opposite. He realised that it was still night, the day shift hadn't started yet. Perhaps Willow had been asleep?

"_Spike!"_

He started and looked around before he understood it was Willow shouting in his head.

"_Are you there? Are you OK?"_

"_Hey, Red. I'm here. No need to shout."_

"_Sorry," _she said, lowering the volume. "_It's just I've been trying to reach you for hours!"_

"_You have? Bollocks, I've been in the three fourteen complex. There must be something there that can block out our link. Look, tell Buffy I've seen Adam; three fourteen's secret. It's bloody Frankenstein's monster but less cute. Creature made up of human and demon parts. Bloody strong - I had to fight it and barely landed a punch, just got thrown about. If that thing gets used by The Initiative it'll be unstoppable, and the Professor seems to do what it says and not the other way around."_

"_Oh my Goddess!" _said Willow. _"That is way scary."_

"_Look, pet, I've got to get some sleep; been up all night. Tell Buffy that, well, that I love her, OK?"_

Willow could sense him yawning.

"_Will do, and check in when you wake up,"_ replied Willow.

Ooooooooo

Spike woke to find himself strapped on an operating table. He wriggled and tugged at the straps holding him down.

"Number Seventeen, stop that, lie still," ordered Maggie, coming into view.

Spike forced himself to relax.

"I just need to change the bandages where the Netsrik bit you and thought I'd let you rest as long as you could."

Now **tha**t terrified Spike; Maggie being considerate, it couldn't be good.

She started to un-bandage his right arm. The bandages were soaked with blood and didn't smell very sweet. Spike made himself look down at his arm. It wasn't a pretty sight; the wound was blackened round its edges.

"I think we only just cleaned this in time," said Maggie. "But the venom still did a lot of damage"

She started to clean the wound again, once more trimming away any irreparably damaged flesh. This time he couldn't feel a thing as thankfully she'd used a local anaesthetic. The look of it turned Spike's stomach so he turned away. He noticed the strange mark running up his left arm had now reached his shoulder. After that he just stared at the ceiling.

"Mother, he will heal more quickly if you give him an arm like mine."

"_Christ!"_

Spike was startled as Adam walked into the room.

"The time is near - this wound will hamper him and won't heal as quickly as replacing it," continued Adam.

"Adam, we need him to be able to pass as a human, remember?"

"Then give him a human arm. There are many vampires here or you could use one of the soldiers."

Maggie stopped cleaning the wound.

"That is a good point Adam," she said and started to measure his arm instead. "I'm sure we'll find a good match."

"_Bloody hell! Willow! Willow! Can you hear me?"_ he shouted through his mind to no avail. _"Shit, I'm back in three fourteen. What if I'm kept here from now on? Fuck!"_

He bucked against the restraints in desperation.

"Number Seventeen, lie still," ordered Maggie. "What's wrong? Don't you want to be like Adam? I know we haven't covered this scenario in your conditioning but you will obey everything I say. Understood?"

She stared at Spike. He swallowed hard then nodded as there was nothing else he could do. He was staring at Adam, terrified that he'd end up like that, when he felt something cold on the skin of his abdomen. He looked down to see Maggie painting a liquid on his flesh.

"It's a liquid form of the gas we use to knock you vampires out - thought you'd be better asleep since you were so restless."

"_No! I can't get hold of Red if…"_

His thoughts could get no further as the drug took hold and he passed out.

To be continued…….


	14. Losing Control

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: You all know I own nothing of it don't you?

Thanks to my beta, Carol and this is for you Teenahali!

Chapter Fourteen

**Losing Control**

Willow rushed to find the others.

"Something's wrong! I haven't been able to get hold of Spike for hours! Buffy, you're going to have to go in and see what you can find out. This Adam thing has him majorly spooked, and they're messing with him - I'm sure of it!"

"Oh my God!" cried Buffy, "I knew we should never have let him go back there. It was a stupid idea! I mean, since when has any of Spike's plans worked out? We must have been crazy!"

"Calm down, Buffy." soothed Giles, "We need cool heads to work this out; we can't just go in guns blazing."

"Watch me!" said Buffy, standing up and grabbing her coat from the back of the chair, "I don't care. I'm going to get him out and I'm going now! I don't care about the other stuff, I just want Spike! Christ, I need Spike."

She started towards the door. Xander blocked her path.

"Look, Buff, this is not a good idea." he said.

"Get out of the way, Xander." roared Buffy.

"Guys! Shut up!" yelled Willow.

They stopped and looked at her.

"_Red? Red? Christ, I hope you can hear me?" _Spike's voice was barely audible in Willow's mind.

"_Spike, I can hear you! What's happening?"_

"_You've got to get me out, they're gonna…..oh fuck…they're gonna….they're gonna make me like Adam!"_

"_We won't let that happen! When? Do you know when?"_

"_Tomorrow, I think. I'm scared, Willow, if they…..if it's started….just kill me."_

"_It won't come to that, we'll get you out!"_

"_I can't keep……I'm…..they…..drugged…."_

"_Spike!"_ she felt the link fade away.

Willow looked around. The others were staring at her - they knew she'd made contact with Spike but they'd seen the colour drain from her face and were almost afraid to hear what she had to say.

"Buffy's right, we've got to go in and soon." said Willow, "They're preparing to operate on Spike. I don't know what they intend to do - he was drugged, only just managing to make contact, but he said something about being made to be like Adam. It's happening tomorrow!"

They all sat down around the kitchen table.

"Willow, you've got to get me the access codes to this three fourteen area. If Spike's in there when I go in I won't be able to get to him without them."

"Pressure much." said Willow, "Ok, I'm on it." and she hurried out to get started on the computer.

"I can use my security clearance to get in and out." said Buffy.

"You can't go in alone, Buff." said Xander.

"Look, if I go in before the day shift starts there'll only be a skeleton crew on. It should be easy to slip out as long as I have the correct codes." she replied.

"If you use your card they'll know for sure that it was you who got him out." protested Xander, "They'll come after us."

"And we'll be ready for them," said Buffy, "Look, this Adam thing is obviously something Maggie Walsh has been using for her own means so I'm not sure she'll activate the whole of the Initiative after us. I'm betting she wants to keep it low key otherwise she's going to expose herself too."

"That's a hell of a gamble, Buffy." said Giles gravely.

"Yeah, but what else can we do? Spike said how strong that thing Adam is. If he couldn't touch it I doubt if I could either. We'll not be able to take it on inside The Initiative, we'll have to do it on our own turf." she replied.

"So when are you going in?" asked Giles, seeing the sense in her plan.

"As soon as Willow has those codes. They've messed with him last night, I don't want him in there a moment longer."

Dawn was having a sleep over at her friend Jennifer's that night. The others were glad to have her out of the house, wanting to shield her from the events going on around her as much as possible.

After several hours, which to Buffy felt like days, Willow walked back to the others.

"Willow!" exclaimed Xander when he saw her.

"Yeah, I know, I had to resort to some major mo-jo to get them." she answered, self consciously rubbing her left hand over her hair, an inch of her roots showing black in stark contrast to her red hair. "It's ok, it'll disappear, just need to meditate for a bit when I can."

"So you got them?" asked Buffy.

"Yep! Here you go, that's the number for the door to three fourteen." She said, handing Buffy a piece of paper.

"Ok, I'm going in now."

She looked at her watch - it was 2 am. She knew the full crew of staff came on at six so she should have plenty of time. She took a bag and put a couple of short handled axes in there and headed out of the door. Giles followed her as he was going to drive her to The Initiative in his car and wait to pick them up afterwards. Unless anything went wrong Buffy was going to call his cell phone. If he didn't hear from her he was to drive to the woods and wait for them there, as that meant she couldn't get out the way she got in.

As they drove away, Willow and Xander stood in the doorway and watched the little red car until it was out of sight.

Oooooooo

Spike had been conscious for some time but he wasn't sure how long. He was still feeling light headed from the drugs. He wasn't within the 314 complex but in the cell opposite its door. He'd tried to mind link with Willow but, despite concentrating as hard as he could, he hadn't been able to.

He sat leaning his back against the rear wall of the cell, his right arm throbbing furiously. Once more the bandages were soiled with blood. He started to laugh quietly in his mind.

"_Won't matter soon, not when I get my new arm."_

He felt the edge of hysteria gripping him. He shook his head.

"_Stop it, Spike, won't come to that. Christ, get a bleeding grip."_ He scolded himself.

He felt a sharp stabbing pain in his neck, on the left side, just below his ear.

"_Ouch! What the hell was that?"_

He put his left hand up and touched his neck, he could feel a lump there, under the surface of his skin. It felt like it was moving! He looked at the arm itself, the raised track now led up as far as he could see, up over his shoulder. No doubt that's what the strange lump was. He tried to rip at his skin with his nails to get whatever it was out of him, but it suddenly disappeared from beneath his touch, with a shaft of pain that would have had Spike scream if he could. The pain passed quickly, but left Spike panting in fear. No way could that have been good.

Shortly afterwards the door to 314 opened and to Spike's surprise Adam walked out of it and approached his cell. Spike stood up.

"No. 17, you will come with me." said Adam, opening the door.

Spike walked slowly to the door - no way was he going into that complex with Frankenstein as a guide. As he got to the door he took one step outside then bolted to the right as fast as he could.

"Stop." said Adam quietly, making no effort to chase him. "Come back."

Spike stopped.

"_What the f…."_

Despite trying his hardest to resist, he turned back around and walked to Adam.

"_Oh, bollocks!"_

His hand strayed to his neck, where the pain had been.

"Yes, No. 17, Mother wanted to make sure you'd do as I said. She was worried the chip was degrading so she linked you to me with an implant instead. Come, there is no time to waste."

Spike followed him in. If he had been able to stand still with horror at the sight in front of him he would have, as it was he just calmly stepped over the body of Maggie Walsh, avoiding the pile of dust on the floor beside her, and followed Adam to where two operating tables stood side by side at the back of the room.

One was empty, the other held a demon, its right arm almost amputated at the shoulder. Maggie's assistant was working on the creature.

"Get onto the table and lie down." ordered Adam.

Spike, though straining inside with the effort of resisting, simply got onto the bed and lay down. Adam strapped him down firmly.

"Michael, how long before you're ready for No. 17?" asked Adam.

Michael paused in his work, "About fifteen minutes. I'll go ahead and sedate him now." He walked over to Spike.

"It was wrong of The Professor to worry about keeping you looking human, since you'll make an excellent candidate for upgrading like Adam did." said Michael, his eyes shining with fervour - the man was totally insane. He glanced back at the demon on the table, "Such a shame it attacked and killed Maggie and No. 17 before I stopped it." he grinned at Spike, "Now you're my property, not The Initiative's. No one can get in here except me now that Maggie's gone. When you're complete you and Adam will help me do anything I want!"

"_Christ, if he cackles and rubs his hands together, I'll just know he's a villain out of a superhero movie."_

"Don't make him unconscious, Michael," said Adam, "I want him to be able to see his transformation like I did."

"It's alright Adam, I won't. He just needs something to keep him calm. Now go to your quarters and rest, I need to concentrate."

Adam walked out of a door to the left and disappeared from view. Michael painted some liquid onto Spike's stomach as Maggie had previously. This time Spike just felt woozy. He didn't pass out completely but could only focus if he concentrated really hard.

Michael returned to the demon and after a few minutes lifted the right arm free from its body. He packed it in ice and then approached Spike. Spike couldn't move even a little bit despite the terror he felt. Michael picked up some swabs and thoroughly cleaned the area around his shoulder. He then picked up the scalpel blade and started to carefully make an incision that would allow him to take the whole of Spike's arm off, including the shoulder joint, and be ready for the demon's arm to be transplanted.

The drug he'd been given dulled the pain but didn't eradicate it completely and Spike was all too aware of what Michael intended to do.

In his mind Spike was screaming!

To be continued………


	15. Easier Said Than Done

Universal Vampire

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Chapter Fifteen

Easier Said Than Done

Buffy got out of Giles' car, picked up her bag, put it over her shoulder, and walked swiftly to the door of The Initiative building. She swiped her card in the security system and after a pause, the door buzzed open. She was in. She gave Giles a small wave and then stepped inside. She ran quickly and quietly along the dimly lit corridors, ducking into a doorway when two security men walked by. She headed to the 314 complex.

Once there, she looked at the cell Spike had been in when she'd seen him – empty.

"Oh, God," she whispered as she turned to the door of 314 itself. "Hope this works, Will."

She put down her bag and took out a double-headed axe. Holding it in her right hand, she punched the numbers of the code onto the door's keypad with her left. The little red light on it blinked out, replaced with a green one.

Cautiously, she pushed the door open. She closed it without it making a sound, and after a few steps, she saw the body of Maggie Walsh on the floor.

"_I wanted to kill that bitch."_

A stride later, she came upon a pile of vampire dust.

"_Oh, please God, not Spike."_

Her attention was then caught by the operating tables. She could see the body of a demon on one. A man, who she recognised as Maggie's assistant Michael, was bent over the body of Spike, cutting into the flesh of his shoulder.

Buffy raced across to the table, grabbing the man and hurling him across the room. She glanced at Spike, their eyes meeting briefly before she turned to Michael, axe at the ready. He was human - it wasn't in her job description to slay humans, but what he'd been doing made him worse than the demons that he operated on.

"What the hell are you doing in here? You're sick. And who killed Maggie?"

"I killed Maggie. She wouldn't upgrade Number Seventeen to a different species of demon's arm; wanted to use a vampire's instead," said Michael, eyes wide. "We need more than one Adam and Number Seventeen is the strongest we've ever had. He's a top class specimen."

"He's not a specimen, he's my boyfriend and right now you're seriously pissing me off, you freak," snarled Buffy.

She saw his right hand creeping up the wall towards a switch and without hesitation, she flung the axe, which severed his hand above the wrist.

Michael screamed in agony, staring at the blood pumping from the stump of his arm.

"Now you know how it feels," said Buffy coldly.

She retrieved the axe from where it had buried itself in the wall and raced back to Spike. She untied the restraints, watching his eyes swim in and out of focus. She looked at the incision made by Michael. Luckily he'd still been cutting through the skin, barely scoring the muscle beneath. In time, it would heal. She grabbed some swabs and tape and quickly bandaged the wound, strapping his arm to his body so he didn't make it worse by moving it.

"Spike. Spike!" She gave him a little shake.

His eyes cleared and he focussed on her.

"_Buffy."_

"Come on, let's get out of here. Get up," she urged, glancing around at Michael who was still slumped on the floor, a pool of blood spreading from his arm.

Spike sat up and got off the bed. He staggered and would have fallen if Buffy hadn't been there. She held him upright. They made their way to the door with slow progress. Spike was uncoordinated due to the effects of the drug.

They got out of 314 and started to go back up the corridor the way Buffy had arrived. Spike's head started to clear a bit and they were able to slowly jog along. The exit door was in sight when suddenly, Spike stopped. Buffy, who'd been holding his left hand as they ran, was pulled backwards and almost fell.

"_Stop!"_ The order was clear in his mind; he was unable to disobey.

"What the hell? Spike! Come on!" said Buffy.

He slowly turned back to look the way they'd come from. Buffy ran in front of him, grabbing his arm.

"What are you doing?" She looked in his eyes and she could see fear and frustration, but still he started to walk back.

He paused for a second or two, head tilting as if listening, then turned back to look at Buffy.

"_Bring her back to me!"_

He got hold of her arm tightly with his left hand.

"Spike! Let me go!" shouted Buffy, trying to pull out of his grasp.

His face showed horror at what he was doing, but he increased his grip on her arm and started to walk back to 314.

"_Christ, I can't do anything about it. I've got to do what he says." _Spike was anguished.

Buffy tugged and pulled but couldn't get away from his grip. She still held the axe in her hand but couldn't bring herself to use it on him.

"_Buffy! You've got to get away!"_ Spike was shouting in his mind, his body acting outside of his control. _"Willow!"_ He tried to mind link, but whatever that thing was that had been implanted had made it impossible.

"_For God's sake, hit me! Do something!"_ He stared at Buffy, desperately trying to convey his words.

But she didn't; she let him lead her back into 314. As they entered, the door slammed shut behind them, and Buffy got her first sight of Adam. She couldn't believe her eyes. Even though Spike had described him to Willow, it hadn't prepared her for the reality of the creature in front of her.

"Well done, Number Seventeen," said Adam. "Now kill her."

Spike fought as hard as he could to disobey, but he couldn't. He swung Buffy round violently, raising his right arm, tearing the bandages she'd put on him just moments before. Not heeding the pain as the wound reopened, he pulled back his fist to slam in to her face.

"_Buffy! Bloody HIT ME!"_

As if she'd heard him, Buffy finally retaliated and swung the axe. She hit him with the flat of it on the side of his head with enough force to send him sprawling unconscious to the floor. She turned to Adam.

"So, you're Maggie's baby, are you? Did you help to kill her, too? Not that she didn't have it coming, but just seems kinda ungrateful of you, you know, when she's given you such a fit bod," said Buffy.

Adam smiled at her.

"I told her Number Seventeen was weak and I was right. You will not find me so easy to defeat."

He threw a punch at her but she dodged out of the way, landing a blow with the axe. It just rebounded off the metal on his chest and did no damage at all. She swung again and slipped on the blood that covered the floor from Michael's wound. She fell flat on her back. Almost as she hit the ground, Adam was upon her. He clutched his fingers around her throat and lifted her off the floor.

"Don't kill her, Adam," said a voice to her left.

She managed to look over to the source. It was Michael, the severed end of his arm swathed in bandages.

"A Slayer will make an amazing base for another creation and whilst she lives, another will not be called."

"_Crap!"_ Buffy redoubled her efforts to get free.

"Bring her to me," he ordered.

Adam started to walk towards Michael when the door to 314 suddenly flew off its hinges and into the room. Adam, Michael and Buffy looked in astonishment; Spike was still unconscious. A slim woman with hair red at the ends but showing black roots walked into the room, sparks crackling about her fingertips.

"Put my friend down!" she yelled.

"_Willow! Thank God!"_ thought Buffy, her throat held too tightly to be able to speak.

Adam just looked at Willow.

"Another little girl for us to play with, Michael," he said.

Willow extended her hands and the sparks turned into a bolt of power that hit Adam in his chest, pushing him over backwards. He let go of Buffy who fell to the floor, clutching her throat and gasping for breath. Buffy could see Xander going to the prone body of Spike and starting to drag him out of the doorway.

"Way to go, Will," said Buffy. "Timely, much?"

Adam was back on his feet and started to go towards Willow.

"Buffy! Hurry, I won't be able to hold him off for long," cried Willow.

Buffy bolted out of the door as Willow hit both Adam and Michael with another blast before she rushed out of the door after Buffy. She paused again and gave her attention to the doorway; casting a spell to put a shield across its threshold. She was just in time as Adam hurled himself at the doorway, but the shield held, and he just bounced off and back into the room.

"Quick!" she yelled as she rushed away. "That'll probably only last for half an hour or so."

Buffy helped Xander lift the still unconscious Spike and carry him away. They took an arm each and dragged him along with no regard to his injuries, desperation at getting out taking precedence.

"How did you get in? Why didn't you say you were coming? But thank God you did," said Buffy, following Willow down the corridor.

"Spike told Giles all the plans to this place. I got a bad feeling that you might be in trouble, and so we thought we'd come along via the air vents and see if we could help," Willow replied.

"It's just up here," gasped Xander, pointing to a grid in the ceiling.

They put Spike down, and Xander reached up to move the grid. Spike started to stir. He pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, then he saw Willow standing there.

"_Help me Willow, please help me."_ Spike tried to mind link with her. She was looking into his eyes but even so, no link was made. Adam's voice floated into his mind.

"_Stop them, do not let them leave!"_

Spike put his hands to his head, desperately trying to blot out the orders but to no avail. He stood up.

"Spike? Are you feeling OK?" said Willow, something in his eyes making her back away. "Er...Buffy?"

Spike reached out to get hold of Willow, but then felt a tap on his shoulder and wheeled round to meet Buffy's fist as it hit him squarely on the jaw. He slumped back to the floor.

"Hey, Buff, he's pretty heavy to carry, you know. Would've been nice to have him able to walk," said Xander. "Pair of shorts on the guy wouldn't have hurt either."

"There's something going on with him. Adam can control him, so I thought getting out was more important than getting him dressed," replied Buffy.

"Oh, now you tell us," said Xander. "Couldn't we have just left him there in that case?"

The girls glared at him.

"I didn't mean it! But can we get a move on?"

They managed to manhandle Spike into the shaft, Willow averting her eyes. They made their way out of The Initiative as quickly as they could. Thankfully, Giles was waiting at the prearranged spot.

"What are you two doing here?" he exclaimed as he saw Willow and Xander.

"Not now," said Buffy. "We've got a problem with Spike. Adam can control him. We need to get him somewhere really secure. We can't go back to my house; they'll look for us there."

"Come on, let's get in the car before Spike wakes up," said Xander.

They all piled in to the car. It was quite a squeeze. Spike was in the middle at the back with Buffy on one side and Xander on the other. Willow was sitting in the front passenger seat next to Giles.

"So, where are we going then?" asked Xander.

"The old Crawford mansion. That's remote enough and secure enough," said Buffy.

"Good idea," agreed Giles, and he drove as fast as he could to the disused house that Angel used to live in.

ooooooo

The first thing they did, to everyone's relief, was to dress Spike in jeans and a t-shirt. Then, they fastened him to the wall with chains on both wrists that were long enough to allow him to be laid on the floor and to be able to stand once he was awake.

They dressed his wounds. The one on his shoulder would heal in no time if it had sutures, but they settled for bandaging it securely.

Willow took advantage of him being unconscious and accessed the chip to remove the block on his ability to speak, once again using a little magic to help it along.

That done, they settled themselves in around the corner from Spike, building a fire in the huge inglenook fireplace. Giles had basic supplies in the trunk of his car: blankets, some food, candles and such. After Buffy had told them what had happened in there, they ate in silence. All exhausted by the night's activities. One by one they fell asleep.

To be continued…


	16. A Bit of A Ritual

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I own nothing in the Buffyverse!

Chapter Sixteen

**Bit Of A Ritual**

Buffy woke a few hours later to the sound of chains rattling. She got up and walked around the corner to where Spike was tethered. He was standing up furiously tugging at the chains. He must have been doing it for a while as his wrists were chafed and bleeding. The wound on his shoulder had reopened, the bandage once again soaked with blood.

"Spike, it's ok, you're safe. We just couldn't go back to my house." said Buffy, hurrying towards him.

He turned and looked at her.

"Buffy." he said quietly.

"That's great! It worked! Willow deactivated your chip again."

When she got to him she put her arms around him.

"No!" he yelled and pushed her away with all his might. She flew backwards and hit the corner of the wall, gasping in pain as she fell to the floor.

"Spike, what are you doing?" she shouted.

"Don't come near me." said Spike in a strange tone as if having to force the words out.

He put his head in his hands.

"No, I can't, I won't."

He fell to his knees.

Buffy went closer to him but made sure she stayed out of his reach, she bent down to look him in the eyes.

"What's going on, Spike? Is it like in The Initiative?" she asked.

He looked at her eyes tortured.

"It's Adam, he's in here." He touched his head, "He's….telling me to…..I can't resist…too strong." He lunged to the end of his chains, trying to get hold of her.

Despite herself Buffy leapt up and stepped back.. Spike thrashed wildly at his chains, his eyes lost focus.

"I'm trying!" he yelled, "I can't get free!"

Buffy realised he was answering the questions Adam was sending to his mind. She hoped Spike wouldn't realise where he was, otherwise would he be able to tell Adam? She turned and walked away back to the others. They were all awake.

"Is that more of what he was like last night?" asked Willow.

"Yes, Adam somehow has got into his head and can control him; I was hoping it was via the chip but it obviously isn't. He's trying to resist but is losing, Adam's just too strong. We've got to be really careful about keeping out of his reach. I'm sure he's been ordered to kill us." said Buffy.

They all jumped as Spike's voice rose shrilly for them to hear, interspersed with furious vampiric growls.

"Got to get out!"

"Find Adam!"

"Kill them!"

"Er.. think I can see why Maggie made them mute." said Xander, saying aloud what they were all thinking. It was horrible hearing Spike's ranting, knowing he wasn't in control of himself, but a puppet of Adam's.

"Do you think if Adam's in Spike's head that Spike can tell him where to find us?" asked Willow.

"I don't know, he's trying to fight it and he managed to warn me. We've got to work out how to get rid of Adam's control, it's going to tear him apart." said Buffy tearfully.

"Yes, we need to do that as quickly as possible. If Spike's under pressure for too long it could break him completely." warned Giles.

"Well, since it's not the chip, Buffy, do you think you'll be able to ask him what was done?" asked Willow, "He managed to tell you Adam was in control, maybe he can say how?"

"It'd be worth a try Buff." said Xander.

"For goodness sake, stay out of his reach!" Said Giles, "Come on, Xander, we'll go and collect Dawn from her friend's house and get more supplies. We may be camped out here for a while."

"I'll need my laptop and spare batteries for it, so I can hit the research once we have some clue about what's controlling Spike." added Willow.

"Be careful going to the house, guys." said Buffy, "Do that before you collect Dawn, ok?"

The men nodded and left.

"Ok, I'll go and try to see if Spike can tell me anything. Least he's quietened down a little." said Buffy.

She walked slowly around the corner to see Spike sitting down, panting hard and still tugging at his chains.

"Spike?" she said quietly.

He looked at her.

"Stay with me Spike, fight Adam, don't give in."

"I'm trying." His voice was a whisper, "But it's so hard, Buffy, I need to go, I need to do what he says."

It was all Buffy could do, not to go to hold him, but she knew it was too dangerous to risk it.

"How can Adam reach you? Did they do anything to you?"

Spike started to speak, then clenched his jaw and shook his head. His eyes slightly lost their focus and she knew Adam must be talking to him again.

"Stay with me Spike, I love you." Buffy crooned.

"Arm." He managed to croak, "In my arm." He touched the track left by the implant Maggie Walsh had put in, before succumbing to Adam's words and trying to grab Buffy again, screaming in frustration when the chains brought him up short.

Willow walked around the corner to see Buffy kneeling in front of Spike, just out of his reach, head in her hands crying. She walked up to her, knelt down beside her and put her arms around her.

"Shh Buffy, don't cry."

"But look at him. Will, how can I not?"

Spike was hunched up in front of them, his head in his hands, whole body trembling.

"I can do something about that." said Willow. She raised her hands at Spike, muttered a few words and with a soft moan Spike went limp. "He'll rest now."

"Thanks Will." said Buffy, reaching out to touch Spike.

"Did he say anything to indicate what's going on with him?" asked Willow.

"He said something about his arm." replied Buffy.

"What, his right arm? Where it's bandaged?" said Willow.

"No, I don't know what caused that below his elbow, above was where that bastard was going to cut his arm off. He pointed to his left arm."

"Let's have a look then." said Willow.

Between them they pulled Spike until he was laying flat on his back.

"Look, what's that?" Buffy pointed to a red line running up from a healed cut, all the way up to behind his left ear.

"I don't know, but it must be whatever is being used to get into his mind. Hopefully Giles will know or I can hit research mode when I get my laptop."

Buffy ran her fingers over Spike's face, tracing the line of his cheekbones.

"I should never have let him go back in." she whispered. "We haven't stopped Adam, God knows what we've done to Spike, and I didn't even get to kill that bitch Maggie."

"We didn't do anything to Spike, Buffy, they did. We'll kill Adam and at least with Maggie gone The Initiative must be weakened. Let's get this right arm cleaned up a bit."

Buffy took the bandage from his arm.

"Ew! This stinks."

The girls set to work cleaning the wound, it was showing some signs of healing but still had pockets of pus within it.

"Looks like a bite." said Willow, "I wonder what it was?"

"Most probably a Netsrik demon." said Giles from behind them, making both Buffy and Willow start.

"God, Giles! Could you have crept up any quieter?" exclaimed Buffy, "So what's a Netsrik? Why isn't the wound healing properly?"

"Its teeth are venomous, fatal if not attended to in time, even for vampires. I'd say this was cleaned but not carefully enough." replied Giles, "Here." He passed Willow a first aid kit, "Give it a thorough clean and trim off any dead tissue. It will heal, just take a bit of time. He was lucky."

Willow took the kit and started to clean the wound. Buffy turned her attention to the incision Michael had made.

"This one's healing well." she told them, "Where's Dawn and Xander?"

"Just bringing in the rest of the supplies. I wanted to see how Spike was before I brought Dawn in. I take it this was your work Willow? Good idea, best to keep him quiet." said Giles.

"Take a look at his neck. There's a track up his arm to behind his ear. He managed to point it out to Buffy before I made him sleep."

Giles bent low to examine the marks on Spike's neck and arm.

"Yes." He said, "I think I know what this is. Willow, I need you to get on your computer and look some things up for me. Quickly, go and help Xander and Dawn get all the supplies in."

"You can do something about it?" asked Buffy.

"Yes, or rather Willow will be able to, just need to be certain but I'm pretty sure they've used a Lorac bug. Adam will have one in him, too. They work by a telepathic link from their host to the other bug. I just can't remember how to get rid of the things."

Buffy sat with Spike whilst the others brought the supplies in. As soon as Willow had her hands on her laptop she set to work on finding out all she could on the Lorac bug, Giles watching over her shoulder.

Dawn came around the corner to Buffy and Spike, seeing her sister caress the face of the vampire and touch the bruises she'd caused. Dawn sat on the floor next to Buffy.

"Will he be ok?" she asked.

"Giles knows what's causing him to be controlled by Adam. That's what he and Willow are working on now." replied Buffy.

"That kind of doesn't answer my question. Why did you let him go back in? You said you loved him but you let him go back in and get hurt - you knew he'd get hurt."

Buffy looked at Spike, tears once more falling. She'd cried so much she was amazed she still had tears left to cry.

"I wish I hadn't, but he was so certain of doing it. After all he'd been through I thought he had the right to choose what to do. I was wrong - you're right, Dawnie, I should have kept him safe."

Dawn gave Buffy a hug.

"I know the others haven't really said anything but Willow and I are glad about you and Spike. Xander, well Xander's Xander. I know Giles has more respect for Spike now, so don't worry about all of us, just help Spike to get better.

Buffy gave her a weak smile.

"Since when did you get all grown up and insightful?"

"Well since I grew up, I suppose, I am in high school." replied Dawn.

Giles and Willow walked over to join them; Giles carrying a pestle and mortar, and various bags of ingredients, Willow carrying her trusty laptop.

"Well?" asked Buffy anxiously.

Willow grinned at her.

"We've found it and we can get rid of it! I just have to do a bit of a ritual to expel it." she said.

"Oh, thank God." said Buffy, sagging with relief, "So what do we need?"

"Mostly just Willow." replied Giles.

Buffy looked at her friend who smiled at her nervously, as always, almost embarrassed by her skills as a witch.

Willow sat down near to Spike, arranging the laptop so she could read the incantations she had to recite. She laid out the few ingredients she needed.

"It'll take about half an hour, I think." said Willow.

"Is it ok if I stay with?" asked Buffy, reluctant to leave Spike's side.

"Yeah, sure, just keep quiet 'cause I've got to concentrate, ok?" Willow replied.

"Come on, Dawn, let's go see what Xander's up to. If we're not careful he'll have eaten all our food." said Giles, leading the younger Summers' girl away.

Willow took a deep breath. She picked up several seeds, leaves and powders, put them into the bowl and began to grind them to a fine dust. She added a spoonful of water.

"Just need it to be a paste." said Willow.

Once the paste was mixed to Willow's liking, she started to read the first incantation from the screen of her laptop, not seeming to notice the odd mixture of technology and the arcane that she was using. She was a thoroughly modern witch.

As she uttered the last few words the paste started to bubble as if boiling and changed from a greenish brown colour to a vivid yellow, with a pungent aroma that made both girls wrinkle up their noses in disgust.

Willow carefully painted the paste on Spike's neck from the point the track disappeared behind his ear and following the track down his arm, all the time quietly chanting the second part of the ritual. When the paste was about halfway down to the point where it started on Spike's forearm, Spike gave out a low moan, despite Willow's sleeping spell still being active.

In spite of being told to stay quiet Buffy couldn't help herself.

"Urgh." she squeaked as the area behind Spike's ear started to move.

Willow glared at her and determinedly kept up her incantation.

Another moan from Spike and a lump appeared and started to move along the track that Willow was coating with the vile-smelling paste. She reached the end of the line made by the creature she was trying to exorcise and stopped chanting.

The girls looked in horror as the lump moved slowly along following Willow's yellow potion. When it got to the end it stopped.

"What now?" asked Buffy, looking at Willow.

Before Willow could open her mouth to reply the lump gave a wriggle then burst out of the skin. It leapt about six inches clear of Spike's arm before it landed on the ground and started to scurry away.

The girls jumped to their feet in pursuit of the creature that was now about the size of a pea, white, and with a seemingly enormous number of legs. Buffy beat Willow to the Lorac bug and stomped on it with all the fervour of someone whose boyfriend it had just been violating.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "Was that ok? You didn't need it alive, did you?"

"No, that's fine." replied Willow, "Dead works for me."

They went back to where Spike was still laying prone on the floor.

"I won't reverse the sleeping spell. Let's just let it take its course, he'll wake up soon enough." said Willow, "Giles said we should keep Spike tied up until the morning in case the Lorac's left any residual links to Adam. He'll be totally clear by tomorrow. I'll leave you here with him."

"Can I clean that potion off of him? It stinks." asked Buffy.

"Sorry, that's got to stay until tomorrow. It will draw out any lingering effects."

"Ok, stinky Spike it is then." said Buffy, resuming her place on the floor, sitting next to him.

Willow joined the others around the corner near the fire.

"Did it work?" asked Giles.

"Yep, we now have an ex Lorac bug on the floor back there. Yuck, horrid little thing, and the legs…." she shuddered.

"They're remarkable creatures, really, they only begin to grow when they're put into a host. They don't do the host any harm." said Giles.

They all stared at him in disbelief.

"Well, it wasn't the bug that was making Spike act like that, it was Adam. He must have had his one implanted first, that's why he was the one controlling Spike and not the other way around." added Giles.

"Spike's ok now?" asked Dawn.

Xander had told her what Spike had been like before Willow cast her sleeping spell and she was glad she hadn't been present.

"Well, he won't be controlled by Adam or bound by the chip's instructions, but ok? Only time will really tell." said Giles.

"Time's what we haven't got with Adam on the rampage." said Xander.

"All hell will have broken loose at The Initiative." said Willow "That assistant guy whose hand Buffy severed? He had a story planned that both Maggie and Spike were killed in the trouble. Do you think they'll stick to that story now Spike's escaped? Or will he blame Spike and bring down the might of The Initiative on us all?"

"Easy on the drama there, Will." said Xander glancing at Dawn as he spoke. Her eyes had widened in fear at Willow's words.

"What? Oh, sorry." said Willow, "It's just that Adam freaked me out when I saw him, and boy was he strong. It took practically all my magical strength to hold him back. I'm just not sure how we're going to be able to stop him."

"It would be nice to know what's happening in The Initiative right now, that's for sure." said Giles.

To be continued…….


	17. As You Were

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine.

Chapter Seventeen

**As You Were**

By the time the full complement of staff arrived for the day shift at The Initiative, the room in 314 was totally cleared up. The only thing out of place was the door that was still broken away from its hinges. It was no longer on the floor in the middle of the room but stood neatly to the side of the opening it was meant to fill.

In the infirmary, Michael lay on a bed, his face ashen through shock and blood loss. The stump of his right arm was neatly bandaged and was held in a cradle, elevating it slightly. The door to the ward swung open and he turned to see who it was.

"Morning, Michael, how are you feeling? I came as soon as I heard."

"I'm…..er…..ok, I guess." His eyes straying to his right arm, "Was lucky, I suppose."

"Yes, thank goodness you managed to fasten a tourniquet around your arm before you passed out - it saved your life. The night staff did a good job getting you stabilised so quickly when they found you. Can you tell me what happened, Michael?"

"I was working on No. 17, as you know, and it broke restraints and attacked me. It just went berserk. I was reaching for the panic button when it…. when it severed my hand." Michael swallowed hard before continuing, "As is proper procedure I had a loaded crossbow in the room and I managed to hit it just as it ripped the door off its hinges. I hit it through the back in to its heart. I dusted the bastard."

"I'm sorry you were working on No. 17 alone but I thought he was beyond the risk of reacting like that. It's always been in the first day or so after they submit to us completely. I understand the doctor has offered you a prosthesis once your arm has healed? I can offer you a hand that will be like your own, and respond to the same impulses as if it were part of you. It would be experimental, as it hasn't been done before, but you agree to letting me do it, don't you Michael?"

He looked at the person standing at his bedside; a momentary flicker of fear passed across his eyes but he nodded his head.

"Yes, I agree to the procedure. Do whatever it takes to get me back so I can operate again."

"Excellent, I'll schedule the surgery for later today. I'll operate myself. Nothing but the best for you, Michael."

With that, the figure turned and left the ward, checking in with the nursing staff to inform them of the decision to operate before walking down to the 314 section.

"_Everything is completely in order. This situation may prove advantageous after all."_

Professor Maggie Walsh hurried along the corridor.

Oooooo

Michael lay on his hospital bed, eyes half closed against the pain that the drugs only seemed to succeed in taking the edge off but not taking away completely. Pain, not just from his arm, though he could feel his right hand throbbing as if it were still attached, but also from the pain in his head. He wasn't allowed to mention that pain. His left hand strayed to a small shaved area on the back of his head, hidden by his hair, about the size of a dime.

Oooooo

Maggie Walsh walked through the rooms that had been the scene of her 'death' the night before. She grimaced and put a hand on the site of the wound on her side that Michael had inflicted on her, before Adam knocked her unconscious. It was painful but would soon heal. She was bone weary. She'd worked all night once she'd recovered. She'd found Michael securing Adam in his specially reinforced cell and had managed to hit the traitor with the blast of a tazer before he'd seen her.

She'd moved Adam from that cell into another that wasn't on any of the plans of the compound. She'd had it added below the floor of the room she used as her office in the 314 area. The contractors who'd worked secretly on it for her wouldn't spill its secret as she'd killed them once it was complete. One advantage of holding all manner of carnivorous demons was that bodies were easy to dispose of without a trace.

When she'd returned to where she'd left Michael strapped to the operating table, head fastened securely in the brace they'd designed together to ensure no movement disturbed the delicate touch needed when working in the implant microchips, she was delighted to see he was alert. She walked round to the front of the table and into his view.

His eyes widened in terror when he saw her.

"But you're dead. I killed you." he gasped.

"You're obviously not quite as good at the killing as you thought you were." said Maggie, smiling as she clutched the stump of his arm and squeezed.

Michael screamed.

"Shh! Not so loud. Michael. If you're going to be like that I'll have to gag you for the next part."

"No! You can't! Not to me! I'm human! I'm sorry for what I did, I won't try anything again!" he babbled as he realised what she intended to do.

"You won't try anything again Michael, of that I am certain." said Maggie, thrusting a piece of rubber between his teeth. It was attached to a strap that she threaded around behind his head and pulled tight so his lips were stretched cruelly apart, Michael's words reduced to quiet unintelligible grunts.

She reached for the clippers, trimming away the smallest amount of hair from the site that she could. She carefully made an incision in the skin and pulled it back with forceps to reveal the bone. A small hole was made with the drill. All the time she was working Michael thrashed wildly on the table. A few moments more and she'd inserted the chip, attaching it firmly to the surface of the brain.

The work with the probe took the longest, programming all she required Michael to do. He would function as normal in everyway except he couldn't refuse anything Maggie said or even leave The Initiative complex without her instructions. If he even thought about disobedience, the pain the chip would unleash would be immense. Michael's thrashings calmed down as the chip took control of his actions. All it took was a murmured 'lie still, Michael' and he did.

She programmed in the story she wanted him to tell of No. 17's demise. Adam would find it, the Slayer and her friends. She didn't want the regular soldiers out in force looking for it and discovering Adam's existence. No, she would handle this herself.

When she finally finished she rendered Michael unconscious and put him on the floor next to the pile of dust he'd used as part of his plan. She went back to her quarters and had slept soundly until she'd been awakened by the inevitable call when he was found.

Oooooo

She returned her thoughts to the present task. She went along to the laboratory which held various research projects, selected an item from one of the many stainless steel storage containers, and examined it carefully.

"Yes, this will do nicely for Michael."

She was holding a metal animatronic hand, looking like something out of The Terminator movies. She walked over and put it in a sterilising machine so it would be ready for attachment to Michael's right arm.

Maggie then walked into her office and went down to check on Adam, opening the secret door to the steep narrow steps leading down to the cell containing her creation.

"Adam, you have been very disloyal to your mother." She said, standing in front of the cell.

Adam was strapped into a metal chair, electrodes stuck to his temples. His whole body was rigid as electric shocks pulsed through them.

"That's why you must be punished, my love. I know Michael led you astray but you should have defended me."

He was unable to reply, teeth gritted together in pain.

"I think you will have mended your ways by this evening." She smiled, turned and left him, turning off all the lights in the hidden room, leaving it in pitch darkness.

She was feeling very tired and had a long session operating on Michael ahead of her, so she went to the supply of food she held in her 314 office, she picked out a bottle of the specially blended formula and drank it quickly down, followed by another. She stretched her body as she felt the energy levels get replenished. She was ready to operate.

Oooooo

Buffy sat with Spike, waiting for him to wake up from Willow's sleeping spell. They hadn't reversed it, just left him to rouse in his own time. She sat close to him, unable to stop herself from constantly touching him, stroking him, and needing to feel the contact between them. She'd been there for nearly an hour before he started to wake. He groaned and slowly, so slowly, curled his body up until he was in a fetal position, body tensing and shuddering.

"I'm here, Spike, oh God, I should never have let you go in." said Buffy quietly, fingers tracing around his face.

She couldn't bear to see him suffering. His eyes opened and the first thing he saw was Buffy's tearstained face, leaning close to his.

"Buffy." he whispered.

"I'm here, you're safe, you're ok." she soothed, kissing his forehead gently.

"Oh God, Buffy, it hurts, it hurts so much." he put his hands to his head, and closed his eyes against the pain, a tear squeezing out and falling slowly down his cheek.

Buffy wiped it away, tears of her own ignored. She took hold of one of his hands and brought it away from his head and held it tightly.

"It will pass, Spike. Not much longer, I promise."

Willow had warned her that expelling the Lorac bug would hurt for about an hour or so afterwards. They'd both hoped he'd sleep through it. Giles has advised against deepening the spell to make sure he did sleep long enough, worried about the possible side effects of mixing magics.

She moved closer to Spike. He shifted so his head was cradled in her lap, his arms wrapped around her, still moaning every now and then, with his whole body trembling when he did.

Willow walked around the corner to see how her best friend was doing. A glance told her all she needed to know: not great. Each time Spike hurt, she did, too.

"If you want a break for a minute, I'll sit with him." offered Willow.

"I'm not leaving him." snapped Buffy, taking a deep breath and speaking more calmly, "Sorry Will, I can't leave him, I just can't. How much longer will it go on?"

"Shouldn't be long now." replied Willow, her own eyes brimming with tears as Spike groaned again.

The two girls looked at each other silently for a time before Willow turned to leave.

"I'll get you some soup or something….. no, Buff," she added as her friend started to protest, "You need to eat. You'll be no good to him if you don't eat something. I'll be back in ten."

"Thanks, Will."

A few minutes later Buffy realised that Spike hadn't moaned for a while.

"Spike? Spike? Are you still with me?"

He lifted his head up from her lap and met her gaze.

"I'm here…I think." he said as he pushed himself into a sitting position. "Christ I thought the chip hurt but this was worse, and what _is_ that smell?"

"They'd implanted a Lorac bug in you. That's how Adam could control you."

He shifted away from her as he remembered trying to hurt her.

"It's ok, it's out of you now, and that horrid smell is part of what we used to get it out." continued Buffy.

Spike looked at the livid bruises around Buffy's neck.

"Did I? Was that me?" he said pointing to them.

No, Spike, you didn't hurt me. That was Adam, but Willow saved me and we got out."

"Oh, thank God." said Spike with relief, hanging his head down.

Buffy moved in closer. She put her hand out and lifted his chin until his eyes met hers. Still holding his face she leant forwards and kissed him, gently at first then, as his tension eased and he relaxed into the kiss, she deepened it, tongue seeking his. Spike put his arms around her, chains rattling and pulled her hard into his body, kissing her hungrily.

Buffy ran her hand through his short, almost bristly hair, moaning softly as her body responded to the passion they were igniting. She ran her hand down the back of his neck, then played her fingers across his throat, kissing him all the time. She ran her hand down his left shoulder then….

"Ew!" she cried, pulling away from him.

Spike looked at her, bewildered.

"Ew?" he said, "You're kissing me and you're saying ew?"

"It's not you but definitely ew!" she laughed, waving her hand at him. It was covered in the vile smelling paste covering the track the Lorac bug had taken.

Spike started to laugh too and soon they were laughing hysterically, tears running down their cheeks, laughing so hard they could hardly make a noise.

"Stop!" gasped Buffy, "I can't breathe."

"Good thing I don't have to." quipped Spike, trying to stop his chuckles.

He took her in his arms and kissed her on the mouth, cutting off her giggles in mid flow.

"Thought that might help you focus." said Spike when their lips parted.

"God, I was so scared when you were in there. I should never have let you go back in; if I'd lost you I don't know what I would have done." Her tears of laughter were replaced with ones of sorrow.

"Shh pet, I'm here, aren't I? Can't get rid of old Spike that easily. Now where were we?"

They kissed again, Spike pulling her down so they were lying together.

"Look, love, not big into the bondage unless it's me doing the chaining up. Can you take these things off? Kinda keep getting in the way." said Spike as he wriggled the chains from underneath him.

"Erm….sorry, but Willow said they have to stay on until tomorrow just in case there's any residue from the bug still linking you to Adam." replied Buffy.

"Does it look like he's in charge?" said Spike grumpily.

"No, but it won't hurt to be safe. You made me chain you up in the basement that night, same diff." She kissed him as he looked at her with a bit of a pout. "Anyway, I can always do this."

She reached for the zip of his jeans.

"Oh for pity's sake get a room already!" exclaimed Xander, walking round the corner and seeing Buffy heading south.

Buffy leapt to her feet, face scarlet. Spike just grinned up at Xander and calmly did up his zip.

"Never thought about knocking?" he asked.

"What do you want, Xander?" asked Buffy, not meeting his eye, _"God, if he'd been a couple of minutes later he would've seen me…….what was I thinking? Not exactly private here."_

"Willow just asked me to see if you wanted something to eat….er…some food to eat."

"Oh…er…fine…um…yes, I'll come get some." said Buffy, all flustered. She started to walk away.

"I'll just stay here then, pet." said Spike with a rather sarcastic rattle of his chains and a big cheesy grin at Xander.

To be continued…….


	18. Feeling Hungry

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer : I'm just borrowing the characters for a bit!

Chapter Eighteen

**Feeling Hungry**

Maggie stretched her back, aching from the hours she'd spent painstakingly attaching the metal hand to Michael's arm - joining nerves, tendons, and muscles so that it would react as if it were his own.

She'd kept him awake throughout the procedure, telling the other staff who were assisting that she'd given an injection to kill the pain, whereas what she'd actually done was to order Michael not to react to the pain in any way. His face remained impassive and only she knew how much he was hurting. She liked it that way, having power over him.

He was wheeled back to the infirmary ward. She was certain it would be successful but it would be confirmed in an hour or so when things had had chance to settle down. She gave Michael a belated shot of painkillers, wanting him to use his arm naturally without her having to order him to use it. If it continued to hurt him he'd only use it when she was there.

Michael sighed with relief as the drugs kicked in. He looked at his new hand, at least it wasn't a demon's. He closed his eyes.

"_Such a shame I never got to finish working on No. 17 before he attacked me."_

A couple of hours later and Maggie was back at his bedside.

"Michael, I want you to clench your right fist. Just think about doing it as if your own hand was still there."

Michael watched, fascinated, as his metal hand's fingers formed a fist.

"Excellent. You'll be back operating in no time - just practice your grip and control." She walked away, leaving the next part of his recovery to the regular nurses.

Ooooooooo

"_Bloody forgot about me sitting here."_ Spike thought grumpily as he waited for Buffy to come back from having something to eat.

He got to his feet then almost fell back down as he swayed violently.

"_Bollocks! God, I need a bloody good feed, been half starved for months. Trouble with humans is they never really know just how much blood a vampire really needs."_

"Is there anything for me round there?" he yelled, tugging angrily at his chains.

"_Bloody go out on a limb for the girl I love and she runs off 'cause the whelp nearly caught her doing the 'naughty' with old Spike"_

"I'm coming, stop yelling." said Buffy, walking around the corner with a bag of blood.

"'Bout time, love, you had a three course dinner round there, did you?" said Spike, his need for blood making him disagreeable.

"Here." said Buffy, frowning as Spike swayed as he reached for it. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." he said just before his knees gave way and he sat down with a thump.

"No, you're not! Spike, what's up?" said Buffy, sitting down next to him. "Are you hurting?"

Spike didn't immediately answer, but just drained the bag of blood as fast as he could.

"Anymore where that came from, pet?" he asked.

"Yeah, we've got a few more bags but I thought you normally just have one at a time?"

"Mm, well, that's what I usually let you guys see I eat." said Spike.

"But at The Initiative they fed three bags a day." countered Buffy.

"Look, love, that's just about enough blood to keep you existing but I haven't fed properly for over a year and my reserves are nearly gone. That's why I've gone all wobbly. I need a bloody good feed, literally, love, otherwise I'll be so far gone, I'll never get back to how I should be. I'll end up a shadow of what I was."

"So, shall I get another bag?" asked Buffy.

Spike laughed quietly to himself.

"What? What's so funny?" said Buffy, snappishly.

"How much blood have you got coursing through your veins, pet?"

"Um….well…er…was never any good at biology." said Buffy.

"You've got about nine pints in you and do you know how many girls I could drain without even feeling full? Three, and that's in normal circumstances, not when I'm like this."

Buffy went a bit pale as he spoke.

"Look, pet, vampire, remember? I'm not going to eat any humans, don't worry, just want you to realise just what I physically need to regain my strength. I'm no good to you if I'm not strong."

"Ok, I'll go get the rest of what we have and go and get more as soon as I can." said Buffy.

She had to admit she was a little shocked by what Spike had said. It was easy to forget he was a vampire most of the time. She returned carrying a blue and white cool box. She put it down next to Spike.

"That's all we've got. I'll go get some more soon."

Spike opened the box, there were six bags inside.

"_Barely an appetiser."_

But he saw Buffy look at him and smiled at her.

"Thanks, pet." He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Sorry for being a git, it's just I've only ever been like this once before and that was when bleeding Angelus locked me up for two months with no blood at all in punishment for causing a riot in Morocco one time. It's not like it was even my fault - just 'cause Darla got caught and he had to go rescue her and he….."

"Spike." interrupted Buffy.

"What? Oh right, sorry, was rambling."

"Would Slayer's blood help?" she asked, looking deep in to his eyes.

"Um." said Spike.

"Would it?" she insisted.

"Well, yeah, pet, but I'm not going to take your blood."

"Is it better than normal human blood?"

"Look, it doesn't matter whether it is or it isn't, just go get me a couple of buckets of pig's blood and I'll be fine." said Spike.

"When you killed the Slayer in China, what effect did her blood have on you?"

"Christ, I was high for a month afterwards, better than all the drug laden blood I took on board at Woodstock." said Spike, reminiscing.

"Well then, taking a little from me will help you, won't it?"

He looked at her and could see she was serious. And she was right, her blood would help to restore him quicker than animal blood alone, but he couldn't take it.

She stroked her neck provocatively.

"Well, you can either use self service or else I cut a vein and mix it into some pig's blood, but either way you're having some."

He looked at her in amazement. She was willing to do this for him.

"I don't want to hurt you." he said quietly.

"Then bite me gently, ok?" she smiled back at him.

"Oh, Christ, Buffy." he whispered.

He leant forward and kissed her on the lips. She responded eagerly, then he slowly started to kiss along her face to her ear and then down her neck to the point where he could sense her jugular vein was closest to the surface of her skin. He could feel her pulse beneath his lips.

Between soft kisses, he whispered.

"Are you sure, pet?"

She nodded.

He vamped up his features and gently nipped her skin with his fangs. Her body tensed as she felt the sting of his teeth, before relaxing and yielding to him. He caressed her neck on the opposite side, running his hand through her hair. He drank slowly, savouring his first taste of human blood in years. He could feel the potent strength of the slayer's blood begin to course through his body. He was moaning softly as he drank, the experience arousing him. Buffy's breath was coming in soft pants, her hands wandering over Spike's body as he drank of her.

Although he wanted more, needed more, he stopped when he'd taken only about a pint, no worse than a visit to donate blood. It took all of his will power and love for Buffy to stop. He gently licked the wound to stop it from bleeding. He leant back so he could see her face, make sure she was ok. Before he could speak he was hit with a savage punch on the side of his face, the force sending him crashing back against the wall.

"Get off her, you undead bastard!" yelled Xander.

"But…." said Spike, holding up his hands to show no threat.

It didn't work - Xander followed his punch with a kick to Spike's ribs, an audible crack was heard as one broke.

Spike couldn't speak, doubled over on the floor. He was dimly aware of the others running in and staring at him with horror.

"Xander!" screamed Buffy, "What are you doing?" She leapt up and grabbed him, preventing him from aiming another kick. "Leave him alone."

"How can you say that, Buffy? He was snacking on you, for God's sake. If it's not Adam controlling him then he's turned evil, or is that **more** evil? What is it with you and vampires, Buffy? You're supposed to slay them, not let them feed on you!" Xander shook off her hand in disgust.

"Are you finished?" snapped Buffy. "I let him feed on me! I told him to. He needed more than we have to make him up to full strength, he's been starved for months! I was helping to make my fucking boyfriend better!" Buffy's voice rising to a shout, "He'd stopped when you hit him, that's all he was going to take. After all he's been through it was the least I could do!"

She knelt down next to Spike who was still laid on his side, his right arm held protectively over his broken rib.

"Are you ok?" she touched his face.

He nodded in a bit of an unconvincing manner. She pulled up his t-shirt, an angry bruise already showing over his ribs. She touched it and he winced and took her hand in his, pulling it away."

"I'll be ok, pet." He glanced up at Xander who was still standing over him, "Wasn't the whelp's fault - it looked bad and he was only trying to keep you safe."

"You're defending him after what he's just done to you?"

"I'd rather he flew to your defence and be wrong than stand back and let you get hurt." said Spike, kissing Buffy on her cheek.

He caught Xander's eye and gave a small nod. Xander hesitated for a second before returning the nod, truce agreed.

"Well, you can come with me to get more blood for Spike." Buffy told Xander.

Willow, Dawn and Giles were all standing there and staring at the three of them, not quite sure what to do.

"Can I trust you guys not to stake my man while I'm out?" said Buffy harshly, pushing past them and dragging Xander with her.

"Buffy." said Willow, as they went out of the room.

"Just look after him, Will." replied Buffy over her shoulder.

Giles, Willow and Dawn stared down at Spike as, wincing, he pushed himself up until he was sitting. Spike caught Giles' eye.

"Come on then, out with it, may as well hear the lecture sooner rather than later, Rupert."

Giles just glared at him.

"Willow, I want you to reactivate the chip so the pain kicks in if he attempts to hurt a human." said Giles.

"What?" said Willow and Spike in unison.

"You heard me. I don't care what he said to convince Buffy but now he's got a taste he's not to be trusted."

"I'm sitting right here, Rupe, you can talk to me. Don't act like I'm not here." snapped Spike.

"But Giles, I can't do that, I'm sure he'll be ok and Buffy, she'd never forgive us." protested Willow.

"She needn't know. If Spike here does love her than he wouldn't tell her since it would upset her, would he?" continued Giles.

"Look," said Spike, struggling to his feet still holding his arm over his ribs, "Ow, look, you're not going back in my head, that's out of bounds, not gonna happen."

"Or what?" said Giles, "You'll kill us all as we sleep?"

"For God's sake, how many more times do I have to say it?" yelled Spike, "I'm not going to feed on any of you!" he groaned as his broken rib protested at his yells.

"Guys! Guys!" shouted Willow.

They both looked at her.

"Firstly, Giles, I am not EVER going to do anything with Spike's chip. It just makes us as bad as the people we're fighting. Get over it!" she snapped.

She turned to Spike who was looking pretty smug since Giles had been told off. His smirk was soon wiped off his face.

"And you!" she glared at him, "What were you thinking sinking your teeth into Buffy? Don't you get that it is NOT acceptable for you to chew on our friends whether they want it or not?"

"But she said she'd just cut herself and mix it in with the pig's blood." protested Spike.

"So, next time let her do that, then! Why didn't you this time?"

"Well……er…..because….um…." Spike's words trailed away.

"Because it's more enjoyable to take it from a person than a plastic bag?" supplied Willow.

Spike looked down, unable to meet her eye.

"Thought so. If you bite her again, I'll stake you myself. Understood?"

"Yeah." muttered Spike.

"Right, that's it. I don't want to hear another word about this from either of you." snarled Willow, glowering at both Spike and Giles.

"Dawn." said Willow

Dawn jumped. "Yes?"

"Go and get some bandages so I can strap Spike's ribs up."

"Ok." said Dawn and she rushed off, glad she wasn't the one getting shouted at. Willow was way scary when she got really mad, especially since her hair was still half black.

Willow went to Spike.

"Let me see those ribs." she said.

"It's ok, it's just one, it'll be fine." said Spike, slightly backing away from her. She was pretty impressive when she got angry, Spike thought, echoing Dawn.

"Stand still, I'm taking a look, ok?"

"Um, ok." He stood still.

She pulled up his t-shirt and none too gently felt along his ribs. He gritted his teeth to stop a groan escaping from his lips. Dawn reappeared with the bandages.

"You gonna just stand there watching?" snarled Spike to Giles.

"Until Willow is out of your reach, yes." he replied.

"Bleeding hell!" shouted Spike in frustration, "I. Am. Not. Going. To. Hurt. Any. Of. You. EVER!" punctuating each word as he said them, "Oh, what's the point?" he said quietly, the fight going out of him. He leant back against the wall in defeat.

"Giles, go and get the camping stove on, I could use a coffee." said Willow in a voice that brooked no argument.

Giles sighed and walked back around the corne,r taking Dawn with him.

"Thanks Red." said Spike.

"Wasn't for you, I need a coffee." replied Willow but with a hint of a smile.

She wrapped the bandage around Spike and pulled it tight.

"How's that?" she asked.

"Perfect, will heal in no time." said Spike, gratefully. Broken ribs were a bitch but luckily something a vampire could heal over a couple of days as long as they weren't displaced.

"I know you won't hurt Buffy or any of us. Giles will calm down." said Willow, softly.

"I'm not so sure about that, pet." said Spike, "but thanks for saying you believe me. I'd die for her." His voice caught a little as he spoke.

"I know you would." said Willow, rubbing her hand against his arm.

"She's all I think about, the only reason I have to exist. I won't let anything happen to her or her friends, even the ones who hate me."

"They don't hate you, Spike." said Willow.

Spike raised an eyebrow at her.

"Ok, so they're not your biggest fans, but they feel protective towards Buffy, too, and you've got to admit walking round a corner and seeing someone you care for getting chewed on has got to make it easy for wrong conclusions to be jumped at."

"No, I get that Red. I don't blame Xander, it's Giles - I just don't get him. I mean he was good to me when you got me out and sorted the chip but then today he's all like 'get the chip working'. No matter what he's said about The Initiative, he'd still rather I had the pain chip than be totally free. That's not going to change. He needn't worry about me biting him when he sleeps but I sure as hell don't ever want him watching my back. If you had agreed to do the chip I'd be one neutered little puppy again by now and I don't think he'll be happy until I am again."

Willow didn't say anything in response. She knew Spike was right, and she just hoped for Buffy's sake Giles didn't cause any trouble with Spike.

"I'll go and get my coffee,… here," she pushed the long forgotten cool box towards him, "Finish this lot off. Buffy will be back with more soon."

"So you're leaving these on?" said Spike, gesturing to his chains.

"Yes, you can't be guaranteed Lorac Bug influence-free until the morning." Willow replied.

"And then? Will the old git be ok with me loose? 'Cause I'm bleeding fed up of being locked up, Red, had over a year of it. I'm on your sodding side."

"I know. I'm sure you'll be unchained, Spike." said Willow as she turned and walked away.

"Bollocks." said Spike quietly to himself.

No matter what he did, no matter what they said, they did just rate him as a demon, not a person. They weren't so different from The Initiative after all. His love for Buffy made him turn his back on being evil and relishing the kill but it was hard. He had to fight the demon within every second of every day. She was more than worth it but he just wished her friends could see him as she did, as someone who was good. Willow and Dawn trusted him but the men never would and though he'd never admit it, it hurt. He'd put his life on the line for all the Scoobies, not just Buffy, and he thought by now he should've earned a little credit.

He sat down and started to polish off the bags of blood in the cooler.

To be continued…….


	19. Temptation

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it! (Even pinched a bit from the mighty Jim Butcher for this chapter! Thanks Jim.)

Chapter Nineteen

**Temptation?**

Xander followed a furiously stomping Buffy out to Giles' car. When she got in the driver's seat, he hesitated before opening the passenger door. He bent down and looked at her.

"Erm, Buff, do you want me to drive?" he asked, hopefully.

It wasn't that Buffy wasn't a very good driver - she was downright dangerous and that was when she was calm. She glared at him and uttered just one word.

"In."

"Oh, ok." said Xander and he gingerly lowered himself into the car. _"There are easier ways for her to kill me, I suppose."_

Buffy sped off, wheels spinning. Xander resisted the urge to hold onto the door handle for dear life. The car careened along the roads, accompanied by much hooting of cars forced to swerve out of the way.

"_Christ, perhaps she is wanting to kill me after all?"_

He let out a deep breath when the car screeched to a halt at their destination.

"Come on." snapped Buffy, getting out of the car and marching towards the entrance of the building.

"Buffy, I thought we were coming to get Spike some blood? So why are we at the hospital?" asked Xander

Buffy stopped and turned round, managing somehow to look down on Xander despite him being more than a foot taller than she was. It was a skill she used only when she was majorly pissed off.

"We are getting Spike some blood. He's been starved for over a year. If he doesn't feed properly soon he will never recover to full strength, so I am getting him the best that we can, ok?"

"But…er…look, don't freak, but stealing it from a hospital….I mean….that's pretty low, Buff. What if some kid dies 'cause we took the blood?"

"God, Xander, you really don't think I'm rational about Spike, do you? Of course I'm not going to steal blood! I'm going to kidnap a coma victim and feed him to Spike." stated Buffy.

Xander stopped dead.

"You're what?" he screamed.

"Just making with the fun Xander, you dope!" said Buffy, starting to laugh. "Your face…"

She put her hands on her knees as she started to wheeze, she was laughing so hard. Xander joined in, not quite so enthusiastically, though, as he had believed her for a second.

"So why are we here?" he asked.

"Vamp I dusted couple of weeks ago was eating a bag of blood from here but it had expired stamped all over it, so figured the blood must have a shelf life after which it can't be used. I'm just going to relieve them of that, ok?" It's got to do him more good than pig's blood, I mean it is his natural food stuff." said Buffy, adding, "If you say one word about him getting a taste for human blood I'll hit you." when she saw Xander thinking the same as clearly as if he'd spoken them, "He's good now Xander, he really is."

"Um….so where'd we find the storeroom?" he asked, changing the subject. Spike was a vampire - he was undead and didn't have a soul like Angel, so how could he possibly remain good?

"It's in the basement." said Buffy, and the pair of them walked in to the hospital.

Not long afterwards they re-emerged, the knapsack Buffy had taken in with her bulging with bags of useless blood. To Xander's relief Buffy tossed him the keys to the car, walked to the passenger side and got in.

"Oh thank God." muttered Xander as he climbed in behind the wheel.

Ooooooo

Spike had guzzled all the blood contained in the cooler but was still in desperate need for more. He craved blood like an addict craved drugs. He sat with his back leaning against the wall, legs stretched out in front of him. He was a worried man - he knew that if this intense hunger wasn't sated he really would be the ticking bomb Giles already thought he was. Any creature in peril of its life will do anything to save itself. Survivors have eaten the victims of a plane crash rather than starve. For a vampire just to kill the next person in reach to ensure it was restored was a very small step to take.

"_God, where was she?"_

He heard footsteps and looked up hopefully.

"Oh, Niblet, you ok?" he said.

"Yeah, I'm ok I guess." replied Dawn.

"Er…look about before…..I…." started Spike.

"It's ok, I get it, she offered, it'd help make you better, so you took it." she said sitting down next to him.

"Look, I really don't want to talk about it, Niblet." replied Spike, shifting slightly so he was further away and focusing hard on trying not to notice how he was so tuned in he could hear her heart beating.

"But you need more, don't you? That's why Buffy's gone to get some. Will pig's blood make you better?"

"Bloody hell, Dawn! Can we just drop this?"

"Will pig's blood make you better?" she insisted, reminding him how her older sister had been earlier.

When he didn't reply, she inched a bit closer.

"It won't be so good for you as human blood, will it?"

"No, it's not so good but as long as I get enough it will do the job ok." He stood up and walked as far as his chains allowed.

"Do you want some of mine?" she asked, "The monks said I was made from the Slayer, so my blood should be as good as Buffy's."

"Sodding hell!" shouted Spike, "What are you on? Did you not hear what I said earlier?" he looked to the side of the room that led round to the others. "Did Giles put you up for this? Let's test old Spike, see what a bad vampire he really is?"

"No! Of course not! I just want to help you. You've looked after me, now I can look after you." She put her wrist up to Spike's face. "There's no need for them to know."

For Spike the temptation was almost too much - warm blood just under his nose, he could smell it; hell, he could just about taste it. With a roar he pushed her away.

"Sod off, Niblet, no more snacks for Spike."

She staggered back a couple of paces, looking at him with tears in her eyes.

"I just thought…." she began.

"No, Niblet, you didn't think and that's the problem." said Spike, a little more gently. He hated to see her tears, but if he hadn't had at least a little blood…. "Now just push off, alright?"

She turned and ran back round to the others. As Spike watched her go his features briefly changed into his vampiric ones before he regained control. With a low growl he changed them back again just as Willow walked into view.

"What did you do to Dawn?" she asked sharply.

"Nothing." said Spike, but he didn't meet her eye.

"Spike? What went on?" asked Willow.

"I didn't do anything, alright? She offered her blood, I said no, and she didn't like it." said Spike, finally meeting Willow's eye, "If you didn't believe me when I said I'm not going to feed off you just bleeding tell me. Don't send Dawn around as a bloody honey trap."

"No one asked her to come, Spike, she just did it."

"Oh." said Spike.

"Were you tempted? Honestly?"

"You're not going to drop this, are you? What do you want to hear? That right now I'm so bloody hungry for blood I can hear the hearts of the others beating even in the next room? That I can literally smell yours as it courses through your veins? Well that's what it's like, ok? It'll fade when I get a proper feed, but yeah, I was tempted, bloody tempted, but I didn't touch her." said Spike, anger flashing in his eyes.

"If it's that bad for you right now and you still resisted I reckon we're safe, don't you?" she said softly, "Want some hot chocolate to put you on until Buffy gets back with the blood? No marshmallows though."

"Thanks Red, that'd be good."

She'd turned and went to get him his drink. She'd seen his vampiric features show when he'd sent Dawn away. She felt she understood a little more what he was feeling. He'd admitted the temptation was there but the demon had shown its face and she realised just how close he probably had come to taking Dawn. He'd fought it and didn't give in, but she planned on watching him very carefully. She decided to see if there were any spells she could use.

Ooooooo

Buffy and Xander returned from their mission to get Spike's blood to find Giles, Willow and Dawn all silently sitting around the fireplace, surrounded by an atmosphere you could cut with a knife.

Willow had had 'words' with Dawn about offering her blood to Spike. Giles, when he heard that, went into overdrive once again saying what a risk it was having Spike here. He and Willow ended up arguing when she pointed out that Spike had actually not taken a chunk out of Dawn despite her offer.

"Hey guys." said Xander, and got a couple of muffled 'hey's' in return.

Buffy started to say something, then Willow caught her eye and she stopped. Her friend would fill her in later.

"I'll take Spike his blood." she said, quietly, and walked to where he was chained.

He was sitting on the floor, twiddling with an empty mug and looking pretty miserable.

"You ok?" asked Buffy, sitting down next to him, putting the bulging knapsack down on the floor in front of them.

"Mm." said Spike, still playing with the mug, eyes focussed on it.

She decided not to press for answers just yet.

"Here." she said, opening the knapsack and pulling a couple of bags of blood out of it. "Will this do ok for you?"

As soon as he saw the blood his face vamped up and he gave out a growl as he took it from her. Within seconds he'd drained both bags. He gritted his teeth and shook his head, features returning to normal as he did.

"Sorry pet, just….um….bit desperate for it. But human blood?" he looked at her quizzically, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, figured it'd get you back to normal quicker than pig's blood and now I know how to get a supply that's not putting lives in danger by taking it. It's expired blood from the hospital. It's still good enough to eat, isn't it?

"Oh yeah, it's bloody ambrosia, that's what it is. Thanks, pet." He reached over and kissed her cheek, "Now do you mind leaving me be while I drink some more?"

"What? I don't mind seeing you take it." said Buffy, then she saw the look in his eyes. **He** didn't want her to watch him. "Ok, no problem, I'll go back round to be with the 'happy' people." She pulled a face at him and walked away.

Once she was out of sight Spike pulled the knapsack closer to him and started to drink more of the blood, his features demonic and his slurps accompanied by low growls. He ate in a feeding frenzy akin to a shark's, barely finishing one bag as the next was opened. After emptying two thirds of the bags Buffy had brought for him he stopped. His face relaxed into his human one. He wiped the blood off his chin with his hand and then licked it off. He gave a big sigh as he felt the raw hunger within him was partially sated - he felt back in control of the demon within.

He leant back and closed his eyes and within seconds he was asleep.

Ooooooo

He felt the blade cut into his shoulder and woke up screaming. Buffy was there in an instant.

"Spike? Are you ok?"

He was on his feet, looking around wildly, shallow panicky unnecessary breaths rasping harshly, holding his right arm.

"Spike." she repeated.

He looked at her.

"Oh, Christ! Buffy." he gasped, "It was a dream, thank God." He let his left hand fall away from his right arm.

"What did you dream?" asked Buffy, gently.

"Um….er….I was back on the operating table….." he didn't need to finish his sentence.

She wrapped her arms around him. He clung to her, desperate for comfort, for a kind touch. She held him, stroking his back, not speaking until she felt him relax.

"I won't let anything else happen to you ever again, I promise." she whispered in his ear.

He tightened his grip on her when she said those words, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. He loved her so much. He took a couple of calming deep breaths, sniffed, then let go of her and kissed her softly. He visibly pulled himself together.

"Er, sorry 'bout that pet. Bloody dream and it's got me all skittish."

"Bloody nightmare more like." said Buffy in a very bad English accent, making him smile weakly at her, "Not surprising, though, after what you've been through. Perhaps Willow could do a spell….?"

"No." said Spike sharply.

"But it might help you."

"No love, been messed with enough. I'll be ok." he said firmly.

"Ok." replied Buffy, "What happened earlier after I'd gone?"

"Nothing."

"Aw, come on, atmosphere much?"

"Yeah, but I'll leave it to Red to tell you, she did most of the talking." said Spike, the look on his face telling Buffy he wouldn't say anything further.

"So, how're you feeling now?"

He looked down at the mess of empty bags strewn on the floor and felt embarrassed at the amount there.

"A lot better, pet. It being human really helps. Thanks, Buffy."

"How's the rib?"

"Good. It'll be mended in a couple of days. The healing gets quicker the better I feed." replied Spike.

"Well, if you're alright, I'm going to go and do a quick patrol - see if there's any word out there of anything going on at The Initiative."

"I'll come with you." said Spike.

"No, we can't guarantee you Lorac bug free until the morning and you're still recovering. It's ok, I'll take Xander with me." she kissed him on the lips briefly and left.

"Be careful." He called out after her, frustrated at not being able to go with her.

To be continued…


	20. What Trouble?

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I own none of this, apart from the plot!

Chapter Twenty

**What Trouble?**

Buffy and Xander slipped quietly out of the old mansion and headed to the cemeteries nearer to the centre of Sunnydale. Their mission was to catch a vampire or demon and see if the underworld had heard anything about The Initiative over the past few days.

"I don't believe this." said Buffy in exasperation.

"I can't help it, when a guy's gotta go…." said Xander walking out of sight behind a large mausoleum.

"Just keep your eyes peeled. If something grabs you while you're holding…er….not ready, I'm not gonna help!" said Buffy.

"That's a little harsh, Buff." joked Xander, sighing with relief as he peed against the stone wall.

"Buffy?" a voice came from behind her.

She whirled around, stake at the ready.

"Hey! Go easy." The figure held his hands up.

"Graham! Hey." said Buffy, recognising The Initiative soldier. She didn't know his partner.

She took it as a good sign that neither man had weapons drawn.

"Haven't seen you around for a bit." said Graham.

"Er…no, been a bit busy lately, you know, with the slayage." she replied.

"So you haven't heard then?"

"Heard what?" asked Xander as he reappeared.

"Oh, hi Xander. About the trouble we've had?

Buffy and Xander did their best to look like they didn't have a clue.

"What trouble?" said Buffy with as much innocence as she could muster.

"Remember that vampire, No. 17?"

They nodded.

"Well, the other night it went berserk, broke restraints and attacked Maggie's assistant Michael. It chopped the poor guy's hand clean off before he managed to stake it."

"God, that's awful. So No. 17 is dead then?" said Buffy.

"Yeah, the Professor's furious about it. She'd put so much work into it. She blames herself for Michael working on it alone that night." replied Graham.

"Maggie? She's not d…., I mean, so what's she doing now?" said Buffy in amazement. How had she survived?

"Like I said she'd royally pissed at losing No. 17 but she's pleased with how Michael's new hand has taken."

"New hand?" croaked Xander.

"Yeah, it's a prototype really, but Michael wanted to try it. It's metal but works just as his real hand did. I've seen it, it's unbelievable." continued Graham. "So when are you next in? Still waiting for a rematch, you know? Can't whup a guy's ass and not give him the chance to claw back a bit of pride." he joked, referring to the training sessions they shared a few months previous.

"Um, not sure. Maggie usually gives me a call when she needs me. Well, we'd better be going, Graham. Nice to see you and a rematch would only compound your dented pride" Buffy smiled at him, got hold of Xander's arm and led him away.

"What the hell was he going on about?" asked Xander once they were out of earshot.

"It seems that we were a little premature in writing off Maggie Walsh. It's not like any of us stopped and checked for a pulse or anything. Crap!" Buffy replied.

"What does that mean for us?"

"I'm not sure. Let's get back to the others. One good thing is that the troops aren't looking for Spike if they think he's dust."

Oooooo

Spike sat on the floor wishing he had a watch. It seemed like Buffy had been gone for hours but he knew it couldn't be that long. He hated being apart from her. He could hear the others talking quietly in the next room, courtesy of his enhanced hearing. He soon zoned out as nothing of any importance was being said.

He'd finished off the rest of the blood and was pleased to feel that his 'hunger' had finally been totally appeased. From now on as long as he got about six bags a day he'd be as strong as he could be. He hadn't felt this powerful since he'd fed on the Slayer in China. There was trouble ahead, big trouble, of that he was certain, and he intended to be as ready for it as he could be.

He closed his eyes and, despite his worry for Buffy, he fell asleep. Almost immediately he was dreaming. This time he didn't wake up as Michael cut into his shoulder. This time he watched in horror as his arm was removed and just thrown into a bin marked 'clinical waste', which in The Initiative was merely a euphemism for 'demon food'.

The dream jumped forward and he was being wheeled away from the operating theatre. He looked at his left arm - it had been replaced with one from a Polgara demon, like Adam's. He now had an arm with a built in bone skewer weapon.

He jerked awake, scream caught in his throat, unnecessary breaths coming in ragged gasps.

"Oh God." he said.

He couldn't help but look fearfully at his left arm. It was his, it was normal.

"It's a dream is all, even got the wrong arm." he said to himself.

He touched the site of Michael's real incision on his right shoulder. It was healed, just a small pinkish raised scar remained and soon that too would be gone. He'd just got his breathing back under control when he heard Buffy and Xander walk in.

"_Buffy."_ Her scent reaching him as soon as the door opened.

He waited for her to come around to see him but she didn't. She just started telling the others what she'd learned that night from the soldier called Graham. He heard every word.

"What?" he whispered.

He leapt to his feet, had he heard that right? He started to shake uncontrollably.

"Fuck no!"

He slid down the wall and sat huddled up, knees to his chest.

"What does that mean?" he muttered, "Oh bollocks, I can't do this."

He closed his eyes and sat there slightly rocking to and fro.

"Spike?"

He started as Buffy touched his arm, so lost in his thoughts he hadn't registered her approach.

"Huh? Buffy, um…you got your info then?" he said.

"Yeah, you heard it all?" asked Buffy, looking at him with concern.

"I heard it, pet, would have been nice to have been part of the discussion." said Spike, a hint of bitterness in his tone.

"Hey, what's with the attitude?" said Buffy, reaching for his hand. He snatched it away and stood up.

"Spike, what is wrong with you? Why are you being like this?"

He turned to look at her and she saw vulnerability, need, and insecurity - things that she wasn't used to reading in his eyes.

"_Those Initiative bastards!"_ she thought in fury.

"Hey, Spike," she said softly, "It'll be better tomorrow when we can get you out of these damn chains. Can I have a hug now please? I need you, Spike."

He looked deep into her eyes before he took her in his arms. He held her close to him, not wanting to let her go, savouring her warmth against him. He kissed the mark on her neck where he'd bitten her earlier, it was already closed and healing. Soon they were kissing passionately, his doubts about her feelings for him fading as they kissed. When they parted, they sat down together.

"So how are you feeling?" asked Buffy, noticing the knapsack was empty of blood.

"I'm fine, pet, better than ever." he said, "Thanks to you, love, getting human blood meant I could sate the demon a bit quicker."

"That's good. So how much do you need on a daily basis then? Obviously more than three."

"Yeah, double that and you'll have a strong vampire watching your back, Slayer." He gave her a bit of a grin.

She knew something else was bothering him though.

"Spike?"

"Mm?"

"When I came in you were all, well, you looked scared and jumpy. What's the deal?"

"Nothing, I'm ok."

She gave him a 'look'.

"It's alright, just was a dream is all."

"Like the last one?" asked Buffy.

"Yeah, just the same., Pet." he lied, "So tell me again what that bloke said about The Initiative?"

Buffy told him all she'd learnt from Graham.

"I can't believe that bitch isn't dead." said Spike, "But it's ok 'cause I wanted to off her myself."

"Get in line - she's mine. No one screws around with my boyfriend and gets away with it."

She didn't miss how he smiled and looked down almost shyly when she'd said 'boyfriend'.

"And, according to Graham, that horrid Michael has had some sort of metal hand thingy attached. Works as good as new." she continued.

"_Sodding hell, I did hear right. The bastard had a metal hand in my dream. How did I know that? What if it's not a dream? That's why it wasn't my right arm."_

He started to shake again.

"Hey, it's ok, he's not going to hurt you again. It's just a dream." soothed Buffy, not knowing the details of his latest one.

"_Come on, Spike, get a grip." _he thought.

"Yeah, I know, but things are pretty messed up in here." He tapped his index finger against his left temple. "Just feels so bleeding real still. I was happier when I thought the git couldn't operate, I suppose."

"Right." said Buffy, unconvinced. She could read Spike like a book. He wasn't telling her something, but she let it go, for now.

To be continued……..


	21. Can't Stay

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I own merely the plot.

Chapter Twenty-One

**Can't Stay**

Spike hadn't slept at all. Buffy had settled herself down to sleep next to him and he hadn't dared to shut his eyes for fear of the dream reoccurring. He laid there, arms around her, until she woke up.

"Morning, love," he said, kissing her as she woke.

"Mm, like the way the day's started already," said Buffy before deepening the kiss.

When they parted she got up.

"Be back in a bit, just gonna get the keys and get you free. Then you can have a wash and get that stinky stuff off you once and for all."

"That'll be good, pet," grinned Spike, "Think you've got as much on you as I have though."

She walked around to where the others had slept and all were awake.

"Hi guys. Where's the key for Spike's chains?"

"Buffy, I think we need to talk about that," said Giles gravely.

"There's nothing to talk about," replied Buffy, "He's free of any chance the Lorac Bug has influence over him, so he gets unchained."

"It's not so simple." said Giles.

"It is, Giles. Where's the key?"

No answer.

"What's this about?" demanded Buffy, standing with her hands on her hips and looking at the others in turn.

"Hey Buff," said Xander, putting his hands in the air. "This has nothing to do with me."

"Nor me," said Dawn quickly.

"Oh? So which of you two is it then? My best friend or my trusted ex-Watcher?"

She looked at Willow, who slowly shook her head.

"So, Giles," said Buffy, "are you going to give me the key or do I have to go find some bolt cutters? Either way Spike is not staying tied to that wall from now on."

"Buffy, you just don't seem to understand what a risk he could be."

"A risk? Was he a risk when he tried to save Dawn from Glory? Was he a risk when I was dead and he fought by your side?" yelled Buffy.

"He had the pain chip then, Buffy," said Giles, his quiet voice in stark contrast to hers.

"It doesn't make any difference, Giles. He's changed, he's a good man."

"But that's something he'll never be, Buffy - a man. That's what he was over a century ago. He's a vampire, a demon that can't change."

"Then he's a good vampire," shouted Buffy. Even to her ears it sounded wrong. "Just give me the key."

"No," replied Giles firmly.

"What?"

"You heard me, Buffy. I don't think he should be freed until we have some guarantee that he can't hurt us."

Buffy flew across the room, grabbed Giles by the lapels of his jacket and slammed him against the wall hard enough to knock the breath out of him.

"What about me? Want to put a chip in my head too? I'm just as strong as Spike, just as lethal."

"Buffy!" shouted Xander, "For God's sake calm down."

"Oh, I'm calm, I'm all over being calm."

She put a hand on Giles' throat, keeping him pinned to the wall. With the other hand she rifled through his pockets until she found what she was looking for – the key. She let go of Giles, who fell to his hands and knees gasping.

"Perhaps you should have stayed in England when I was resurrected" she said harshly. "We need to work together on this and I need Spike with me. He's the strongest fighter besides me that we have. This Adam, he's as tough as anything we've faced. I trust Spike."

Buffy turned and walked towards the corner leading to Spike.

"You're blinded to what a risk he is by this infatuation you have," rasped Giles, getting to his feet, "Don't do it"

She turned back to look at him.

"It's not infatuation, Giles," she said quietly, "it's love, it's the something I'm certain of. I love him; he loves me. I am not leaving him chained up. If you can't deal, leave."

She walked out of his sight.

Spike was on his feet looking at her.

"You heard that then?" she said, smiling weakly.

"Yeah, kinda didn't need the whole 'vampire hearing' thing since most was at full volume."

She walked over to him, took his wrist in her hand, and unlocked the shackles, repeating it with the other one. Spike rubbed each wrist in turn; both were chafed where the chains had rested.

"Thanks, pet," said Spike, "You ok?" He pulled her into his arms.

She leant her head on his shoulder and clung onto him, tears falling.

"I just hate this," she sobbed, "Giles has been so good to me in the past but he's so awful about you and now I've…….God, what have I done?"

"Shh love, you're alright, it'll be ok," soothed Spike.

He wasn't sure it was true, attacking her Watcher like that could never be forgotten by either Giles or Buffy. Their relationship would never be quite the same again, all because of him. He felt like going round there and ripping Giles' throat out but since that'd sort of prove what Giles was saying about him, he thought better of it.

"C'mon," he said, taking her hand, "Let's go face the music." He led her back round to the others.

All four stood rooted to the spot as Buffy and Spike walked into view. The silence was deafening.

"Right the," said Spike, "I'll go first, shall I?"

He stared at Giles as he spoke, his blue eyes icy cold.

"Firstly, so nice to know that the bunch of times I've saved your sorry hides means nothing. Secondly, I'd die for Buffy. I want her to be happy, not fighting with her friends 'cause she hates that. So don't worry, Rupert, I'll not be here for you to worry about - I'm outta here! Really don't need to be feeling all this 'love' right now. I've had enough, sod you all."

"Spike!" cried Buffy, "You can't go, don't leave."

"Look, pet, I can't stay here, it just won't work. I can't have you falling out with your mates 'cause of me. I'd do anything for you, love, but I can't be locked up anymore. Old Spike's had enough captivity, thanks, and they're not gonna be happy if I'm free."

"But…." started Buffy.

"No, Buffy, it's not up to you, I'm going back to see if my crypt's still ok. The soldier boys aren't looking for No. 17 anymore so it'll be as safe as anywhere. You can get in touch when we're going to make a move on Adam and the Professor."

"I'm coming with you," said Buffy, taking hold of his arm.

"Your friends need you, Buffy. It'd kill you if they came to harm. Stay here and keep them safe. I need….I need some time to myself. I love you, Buffy, you know that. Please give me these couple of days."

He looked deep into her eyes as he spoke. Buffy looked up at him - something more was bothering him, she was sure of it. She could see the pain he was feeling. Of course he needed space, he'd been subjected to God knows what for a year. Then all he'd had, from those who were supposed to be his friends, was mistrust and anger. She had to let him go. She just hoped and prayed he'd come back to her, but only he could decide that.

"Here," she said, holding out her hand.

He looked down; it was Buffy's cell phone. He hesitated for a moment then took it and put it in his jeans pocket.

"I need to be able to get in touch with you, to hear your voice, ok? The charge will last a couple of days. I love you; just don't forget that. I'll have Dawn's phone on me, the numbers are in the memory. If you need me for anything, anything at all, just call, ok?"

"Ok Buffy." He hugged her and kissed her with such passion that Giles had to avert his eyes. "Sorry about this pet," he whispered, "but I've just got to do it for me, you know?"

"I know," said Buffy softly, "Be careful." She reluctantly let him go.

He glanced around at the others. Dawn was crying and the others looked a bit stunned. He kissed Buffy once more and walked out of the mansion, keeping in the shady courtyard until he found the entrance to the sewers. He dropped down into them and set off towards the centre of Sunnydale.

Buffy glared at Giles.

"Happy now?" she said coldly.

"Buffy, no, of course I'm not happy but……."

"Just leave it, Giles," she said.

She sat down on the hearth of the fireplace, put her head in her hands and wept. She wept for Spike, for herself and for the fact she'd lost it and attacked Giles.

"Hey Buff," said Xander, sitting down next to her and putting his arms around her.

He didn't like or trust Spike but of one thing he was sure, the guy adored Buffy and would defend her to the death. He glanced up at Giles, who was furiously cleaning his already spotless glasses. Had Giles overreacted to the potential threat that Spike posed or was he the only one who looked at the situation clearly? Hard to say.

"Let's get some breakfast," said Willow a little too brightly.

Dawn walked over to Buffy and handed her cell phone to her.

"That's a first," said Xander with a smile.

"What is?" asked Dawn.

"A teenaged girl giving up her phone without a fight," he joked.

It fell flat.

"It's ok, Xander," said Buffy, wiping her eyes and pulling herself together. "Let's go eat and start planning what we do next."

To be continued………


	22. All Alone

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine.

Thanks to Carol my hardworking Beta:)

Chapter Twenty-Two

**All Alone**

Spike wandered slowly through the sewers. He couldn't believe he'd just walked away from Buffy like he had. God, he loved her so much it hurt but if he'd stayed things would've gotten even worse. He couldn't stand all the tension; all he wanted was some peace before all hell inevitably broke loose again in the form of Maggie and Adam. It felt strange to be walking along, alone, going where he wanted to go.

He finally arrived at his old crypt. As he stepped up into the lower level from the sewer tunnel, his unbeating heart sank - the place looked trashed. He climbed the ladder to ground level, it was even worse there. Everything breakable had been smashed into tiny pieces, including his TV and his refrigerator. Graffiti had been sprayed all over the walls, the door hung lopsidedly on its hinges. To make matters even worse, the whole place reeked of piss. The vandals - not vampires or demons, but humans, most probably teenaged boys - had left their mark.

"Great, just great," said Spike.

He sat down on a ledge and to his amazement he started to cry. He couldn't stop, his body wracked with sobs. When finally he could cry no more he wiped his face on his t-shirt and looked around his former home again. It was the only place he'd really felt he'd belonged in years. He'd seen the best and worse of Buffy here, as had she of him.

"_Christ, where'd that all come from?"_ he thought, but knew it was a reaction to all he'd been through over the past year. Walking alone of his own free will was seemingly the catalyst; the fact that his 'home' was ruined emphasised what he'd lost in that time. He may be immortal but a year was still a long time to suffer as he had.

He stood up, shook his head rapidly to clear his thoughts and went to see if his 'safe' had been discovered in his absence. He went over to the back corner and pulled out a couple of bricks revealing a space about a foot square. In it was a black metal box, which he pulled out and opened.

"Yes," he said as he saw the contents were intact.

He took out a pile of dollar bills and counted them carefully - just over three thousand dollars. There were also two silver rings that he put on and a silver necklace. He held the necklace in his hand and looked at it before putting it in his jeans pocket. He'd been going to give it to Buffy the last night before he'd been recaptured but when she'd ended it with him he'd just put it back in the box and got pissed.

Right at the bottom of the tin was a faded old photograph, a bit blurry as photography was in its infancy when it was taken. It showed a couple and a young boy of about twelve. It was Spike, or rather William, and his parents. He looked at it for a long time; his father had died the following year. He wondered - would his life have been different had he lived to old age? Would he still have been regarded with the contempt he had been that had forced him out onto the streets that fateful night when he'd met Drusilla? Or would he have been a stronger man, not the hopeless romantic, author of poetry of such mediocrity as to draw such scorn?

He felt tears start to sting his eyes again. He stuffed the photo into the back pocket of his jeans.

"Christ, Spike, don't be so pathetic," he said to himself, voice echoing in the crypt.

He looked at the cash trying to decide whether to take it all or leave some here since it'd remained unfound despite the crypt being ransacked. It was unlikely it would be found now. Unlikely, Spike decided, didn't mean it wouldn't happen so he split it between his pockets. He put the now empty box back and pushed the bricks back into place.

Spike stood up and looked around. There was no way he could stay here, but where could he go? Not only was it daytime but it was a bright sunny day at that. With no blanket to hide beneath he wouldn't last two minutes if he tried to stay above ground. He started to wish he'd stayed put and took his chances with the Scoobies. He hadn't known he was going to leave until he said it. He'd meant to try to make peace with Giles but saw from the way he looked at him that it was useless, a lost cause. So where could he go? He still reeked of the potion used to expel the Lorac Bug, then he had a thought and he smiled.

"Good idea, Spike!"

He jumped down into the tunnels and made his way to the underground entrance to Willy's Bar. He needed somewhere to stay until dark. Since most of the clientele naturally smelled worse than Spike currently did he'd blend in just fine. Hopefully without his beloved duster and bleached hair no one would recognise him.

He walked into the bar - the bar keep wasn't anyone he knew. So far so good.

"Pint of O neg and a Jack Daniels," he said, disguising his English accent with a passable Southern one.

"Sure thing," replied the barman, "New in town?"

Spike just ignored him.

"Twenty bucks," he said, putting the drinks down in front of Spike.

"Twenty bucks!" exclaimed Spike, "Bit steep, isn't it?"

"Where else in town can you get that combination of drinks in a safe environment?"

"Good point," replied Spike. He pulled out a couple of twenties from his pocket and gave them both to the barman. "Bring the same again when you see the glasses are empty."

He chose a table in the darkest corner - even though it was early in the morning there were about thirty-five customers. Willy's Alibi Room never closed and it was never empty. Spike took a sip of the blood. It was the good stuff. He tried not to think about where it came from, but there was no animal blood on the menu here. He'd buy some to take out when it was dark, not wanting to have to risk stealing some from the hospital or reverting to pig's blood from the butchers.

The barman brought over his second round of drinks almost at the same time Spike put down the empty glasses. Good service was essential for any bar staff working there, if you pissed off a customer they didn't just forget the tip, quite often they ate the culprit. Consequently Willy's had the best service in the whole of Sunnydale.

Spike felt his eyes starting to close as he sat there after finishing his second pint of blood. The bar was warm and safe, so each blink lasted for longer and longer until he was fast asleep.

Instantly he was back in the dream, seeing his arm removed with the demon's arm in its place. This time as he was wheeled away he saw the Professor smiling at him as he lay there unable to move. He saw someone else there, too, standing next to her. He tried to see who it was, was it someone he knew? Oh God it was…….

He woke up with a start, knocking the table and causing one of the glasses to fall to the floor and smash. Every head turned in his direction. He ducked his head down, keeping his face hidden, and quickly got up. He put ten dollars on the table to cover the breakages and rapidly made his way back into the sewers.

"What does that bloody dream mean? Who was that with the Professor?"

Spike had stolen a jacket that has been hanging near the tunnel entrance and decided to try to make it over to Buffy's house. He knew it might be being watched but thought it fairly unlikely as Maggie would know the Slayer wouldn't have simply gone home. It was a risk he decided to take, as he couldn't think of anywhere else to go, plus his jacket was there and it always made him feel better when he wore it. It was like a combination of armour and a comfort blanket to him!

By sprinting as fast as he could he made it into Buffy's house by the door to the kitchen just as the jacket started to smoulder. He'd kicked in the door, tossed the jacket outside and pushed the door shut. He stood perfectly still concentrating all his enhanced senses on the house. He could detect no evidence of the Initiative having been in there and he knew he'd be able to smell it if they had. It was a smell he didn't think he'd ever forget.

He walked over to the refrigerator and opened it, pleased to see three bags of pig's blood in there. That would do until he got some more. He'd rushed out of Willy's forgetting to buy some to take out in his haste. He closed the door of the fridge and made his way upstairs and into the bathroom. He turned the shower on to let the water heat up as he found a towel and stripped off. He stepped under the stream of water, turned the heat up some more and stood there, eyes closed, hands leaning against the wall, relishing the feel of the hot water on his skin. After about five minutes he took the soap and scrubbed himself vigorously, getting the stench of the potion off him and scrubbing until his skin was red in his efforts to eradicate the past year.

Eventually he stepped out of the shower and wrapped himself in the large fluffy pink towel he'd found. He looked at the filthy jeans and t-shirt and decided he'd have to wash them before he put them back on, since they were literally the only clothes he possessed. So still wrapped in the towel he went back downstairs and put them in the washing machine after emptying his pockets and putting their contents on the shelf near the washer and bringing the cell phone back into the kitchen with him. He rummaged through cupboards until he found a half full bottle of brandy; he picked it up and brought it with him as he walked upstairs.

Spike went into Buffy's bedroom, as always surprised at how 'girly' it was, a contrast to how she had to be when in Slayer mode. He sat on the bed, took a good slug of the brandy then put the bottle and phone on the floor near the bed. He then curled up on his side on the bed, savouring the scent of Buffy on the bed sheets.

As soon as he was asleep he was thrown back into the dream. It was different this time; he was in a cell, naked, waiting for them to come for him, as he knew they would. The glass door to the cell opened, but there was no one in sight. Buffy, it had to be Buffy come to rescue him. He walked to the door and out of the cell all the time expecting to be stopped but he wasn't. He ran silently along, glancing back to see if he was being followed. He bumped into something in front of him and fell to the floor. He looked up in horror - Adam was there! Spike scooted backwards trying to get up. Without saying a word Adam strode up to him and stomped on his right leg with all his might. Spike screamed in pain as it broke.

Spike fell off Buffy's bed and scooted backwards until he hit the wall, his eyes flew open as he screamed, but the images kept coming….

Back in a cell, the pain from his leg almost unbearable, he saw a gurney being pushed past. A figure was strapped to it. As it got level with him he was who it was – Buffy.

"No!" he shouted both in his dream and in reality.

"You're too late, Spike," an unseen but familiar voice sneered, "You're never able to stop it when it really matters, are you?"

Bewildered, Spike looked at the gurney again. Buffy turned to look in his direction for a moment but her expression was blank. As she turned her head away from him he could see a shaved area on the back of it, a couple of stitches closing the wound there.

"Christ no! Buffy!" Spike yelled, dragging himself to bang on the glass as she was wheeled away.

He was banging on the wall of Buffy's bedroom, locked into the vision even though he was awake. His right leg was held awkwardly as if broken. He stopped banging on the wall when he heard the cell phone ring. He looked around, eyeing the phone suspiciously when he spotted it.

"_What's a phone doing in here with me?"_ he thought, still unable to separate dream from reality. He picked it up and pressed the button to answer the call. He didn't speak, didn't put it to his ear, just held it in front of him.

"Spike? Are you there? Spike?" Buffy's voice emanating from it.

He looked at it.

"Trick, it's just a trick," he said.

"Spike? What's a trick? Are you ok?"

"Too late, always too late, not smart enough let her die again."

"What are you talking about? Spike, where are you?"

"No! Not telling, she'll be hurt, she is hurt."

He threw the phone to the wall and it smashed. Spike pulled himself into the corner again, grunting in pain from his 'broken' leg, eyes open, not seeing the inside of Buffy's bedroom but the inside of an Initiative cell.

To be continued…


	23. Connections Made

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I own merely the plot!

Chapter Twenty-Three

**Connections Made**

After Spike had left, Dawn, Giles, Xander, Willow and Buffy ate their breakfast in silence, none of them knowing what to say. Buffy barely ate anything, then got up and walked round to where Spike had been chained. She couldn't believe he'd left. She could see why he'd want to, need to, get away from them all but it still hurt like hell that she couldn't help him. She knew Spike wasn't always the most 'sharey' of people but she'd hoped he'd lean on her when he needed to, Lord knows she'd leant on him enough in the past. She touched the chains; she'd never let him be held captive again, not by anyone, she vowed.

"Buffy." A voice from behind her.

She didn't turn around, just kept staring at the chains.

"We really do need to talk," said Giles, walking towards her.

"I know we do, I'm just not sure that now is the best time, Giles," said Buffy quietly.

"I think it is, Buffy, if we leave it longer…." He left the sentence hanging.

She knew what he meant, the longer they left it the less chance of making things right between them. The trouble was she didn't know if she could make things right. She'd attacked him! He'd never been Spike's biggest fan, nor Angel's before him, but her emotions were totally screwed up at the moment. She couldn't believe she'd got Spike back, then he returned to the Initiative and she'd been terrified when she'd seen him on that table with Michael cutting into him. If she'd been a little later – God, it didn't bear thinking about. She just couldn't stand to listen to Giles talk about Spike as if he were the enemy, not after all he'd been through.

"Buffy," said Giles gently, putting a hand on her arm. "Please let's sort this out."

"Sort it out?" said Buffy bitterly, "Everything is so black and white to you isn't it? Good – evil, right – wrong, nothing in between. Well, I live in a world made of shades of grey, Giles. Not everything conforms to your way of thinking, not everything falls neatly into a category."

"I never wanted Spike to leave," said Giles, and he meant it. At least whilst Spike was here they knew he hadn't been tampered with again, he'd trust him even less when he next saw him.

"Really? Now that's surprising considering all the crap he had to listen to from you, which was obviously designed to make him feel very welcome," snapped Buffy.

"Buffy," sighed Giles, "I just wanted to keep us all safe, Spike included. It would kill him if any harm came to you, especially if by his own hand. We deactivated the chip to prevent them from controlling him but he's still got a year's worth of conditioning in there. Look how he reacted when we said three fourteen for the first time. What if we accidentally hit on another 'trigger'?"

Buffy looked at him for the first time since he started talking, she could see the logic behind his words.

"I might not like Spike, Buffy, I doubt I ever will but I do know he lives for you. I believe him when he says he won't harm us because that would hurt you, but I'm not convinced he can put a year of torture and mind control behind him after a couple of days. I've handled it badly, I realise that, knowing he'd drank your blood horrified me, but I do fear for Spike. His experiences have got to have left their mark on him and that makes him dangerous to us all as well as himself."

"Oh, Giles, I'm so sorry," said Buffy. She'd felt something was bothering Spike yesterday, was that why he'd left today?

"That's alright, Buffy," said Giles, putting his arms around her, "We'll get through it, we always do."

"I've got to find Spike. Something upset him yesterday when I told him what Graham had said. He just said it had been another bad dream but I felt there was more to it and didn't press him on it."

She pulled Dawn's cell phone out of her pocket.

"Buffy, leave it for a while before you phone him. It would be better for him to come back to you unprompted."

"Ok," agreed Buffy, remembering Spike's parting words to her, that it was something he had to do.

Ooooooo

They walked round to the others; three pairs of eyes anxiously watched their return.

"Everything ok?" asked Willow.

Buffy and Giles looked at each other.

"Yes, we're good," said Buffy, "I am worried about Spike though. I think Giles is right, that he's still suffering the effects of the Initiative."

"I'm sure he'll be back soon, Buffy. I can't see him being able to keep away from you for long," comforted Willow.

"So what's the plan?" asked Xander, "How do we get to stop Adam and Maggie Walsh?"

"Honestly?" asked Buffy, "Haven't a clue." She sat down next to Dawn. "We can't go in there because she must know from Adam and Michael that we were involved in Spike's escape but I'm not really liking the idea of sitting and waiting for her to make a move on us."

"Why is she waiting at all? I expected her to come straight after us," said Xander.

"Me too," added Willow.

"Willow, can you see if you can find anything else in the Initiative's computer files?" asked Giles.

"Yeah, will do. Beats doing nothing," said Willow, reaching for her laptop.

"Can I help?" asked Dawn.

"Yes, Dawnie, let's have a look."

"Buff, do you want me to go get some more blood for Spike? May as well try to stockpile some for when things start to happen," said Xander.

"Good idea, Xander, thanks," replied Buffy.

"I'll come with you and get some more supplies for us," said Giles.

"Ok," said Xander, "We won't be long."

The pair left in Giles' car.

Buffy wandered around restlessly after they'd gone until she could stand it no more. She picked up her coat and went out of the door.

"Going for a walk, I've got Dawn's phone if you need me."

She left quickly, not giving Willow or Dawn chance to react. She wandered along the streets pretty aimlessly just needing to be out of the mansion. She hated this waiting around for something to happen. She wished it was dark, at least then she might be able to find a vampire or two to dust.

Oooooo

Xander dropped Giles off near his apartment, the older man wanting to get some books to help with the research. As Maggie Walsh had used a Lorac Bug he wanted to check up to see if there were any other things she might use on them. He was going to meet Xander near the Mall in an hour.

Giles unlocked the door to his apartment and walked inside, he hadn't spotted anyone watching the place so he thought it was safe. He was wrong. He was grabbed from behind as he reached for a book from his bookcase. He struggled but to no avail; his hands were pulled roughly behind his back and fastened with plastic ties pulled cruelly tight. He was dragged across the room and pushed down onto his couch. He got the first sight of his attacker – Adam. He couldn't believe his eyes. The creature was huge and diabolical to look at, like the others had said he really was Frankenstein's monster come to life.

"Adam," he said.

"Mother is very unhappy with you for taking my brother away," said Adam, "She's been waiting to speak with you since then and she doesn't like waiting."

"No, I really don't," said Maggie, walking into view. "Mr. Giles how are you?"

"Not as good as you apparently, we had thought you were dead," said Giles.

"So many people underestimate me, Rupert. May I call you Rupert?"

"No."

"Well, Rupert, I hope you don't let me down like No. 17 ultimately did. How is it by the way?"

"Don't know, he isn't with us anymore, he left."

"Oh, that is truly a shame. You will keep me informed if he shows up again though, won't you Rupert?"

"Go to hell," snarled Rupert.

"Adam, can you please hold him down? He may object to what I'm about to do just a little," said Maggie with a smile. "Men are such babies."

She took out a small box, opened it, and removed a strange device. It had a short hollow blade with a little plunger on the top of it. She opened another section of the box and took out a small white object very similar to a small grain of rice. She looked at Giles.

"I take it you recognise what this is since you removed the one in No. 17?"

"Yes, it's a Lorac Bug. So are you going to link me to Adam like you did Spike? It failed because Spike managed to tell us what you did to him. Why do you think I'll be any different?"

Maggie laughed.

"Oh Rupert, you really are funny, aren't you? No. 17, sorry Spike, is a vampire. Surely you know how much stronger a vampire is than a mere human? The demon part could fight it, you won't stand a chance of resisting."

She popped the dormant Lorac Bug into the device and brought it up to her neck, just behind her ear. She gasped as she drove the blade into the skin and depressed the plunger. She removed the device and a couple of seconds later groaned as the creature settled itself in position. She wiped the blade and put the second Lorac into the device and walked towards Giles.

"I'm not going to link you to Adam, you'll be connected to me."

"No!" cried Rupert, "You can't do this." He wriggled frantically but could barely move thanks to Adam's grip on him.

"I think you'll find I can do exactly as I please, and I don't think that deep down you're so different from me, Rupert."

"I'm nothing like you," spat Giles.

She plunged the device into his neck implanting the Bug.

"Ow!" he cried as the blade sank into his neck. She withdrew it and a couple of seconds later he gave out a bloodcurdling scream as the Lorac Bug settled into position.

"You may release him now Adam, thank you. Cut his wrists free," said Maggie, "How are you feeling, Rupert?" she added, looking at her latest recruit.

"Fine, thank you," said Giles calmly.

"That's good, because I don't think you'd done your homework properly Rupert, otherwise you would have known that a Lorac Bug in a human host will do just as good a job at controlling you as our microchips do the demons. We actually modelled the chip on the Lorac's influence. Unlike your pet vampire, you will be totally obedient to anything I ask whether in person or through our mind links. I had hoped No. 17 would have told us your location but his demon blocked his thoughts getting back to Adam. You will not tell anyone you are working for me, nor that you have seen me. You will tell me of any changes in your situation as soon as they happen. So what are your plans now?"

Giles looked at his watch.

"I'm expected to meet Xander at the Mall with supplies in a half hour," he replied.

"What plans do you have regarding Adam and myself?"

"We have no plans as yet. We dare not enter the Initiative to attack you there so we're just waiting to see if you make a move at the moment."

"Very wise," said Maggie, "Now Rupert, I want you to shower and change your clothes before you meet Xander. If No. 17 returns to you I don't want him to be able to smell Adam on you."

Giles got up and showered and changed quickly before selecting the volumes he wanted from the bookcase and leaving, carefully locking the door behind him.

Ooooooo

Buffy meandered along, trying to think of a strategy for closing down the Initiative and killing that bitch Maggie Walsh, Buffy had never killed a human before but there was no way she was going to live. Her thoughts turned inevitably to Spike, she'd felt she'd let him down somehow. Why hadn't he told her everything? Perhaps he didn't love her as much as she thought he did? No! She shook her head, that was the one thing she had no reason to doubt. He loved her but his life would have been so much easier if he hadn't, of that she was certain. He'd loved her when she hadn't been worthy of his love.

She stood still suddenly having a feeling that Spike was in trouble. She wasn't far from his crypt so she started to run. She had to get to him. She saw the door hanging off its hinges.

"Oh God, no!"

She dashed inside but looking around the crypt she realised if Spike had been here he hadn't stayed for long - the place stank and was trashed. She pulled Dawn's phone from her pocket and dialled her own number praying Spike would pick up.

The phone stopped ringing. It had been connected but he didn't speak.

"Spike? Are you there? Spike? she said into the phone.

"Trick, just a trick." She heard his faint reply.

"Spike? What's a trick? Are you ok?"

"Too late, always too late, not smart enough, let her die again."

"What are you talking about? Spike, where are you?" she shouted into the receiver.

She heard him say something more but didn't catch it. Then the line went dead. She stood trying to think of his old haunts. Willy's Alibi Room was one but she didn't think he was there as she hadn't heard anything in the background. Where else could he be?

"My house!"

She left the crypt and ran as fast as she could across town to Revello Drive. Once there she approached cautiously, alert for any possible danger. She circled the building then when she got to the back door into the kitchen she saw an old coat on the floor. It must be Spike. She pushed the door and it swung open, the latch broken. Resisting the urge to run in screaming his name, she slowly and as quietly as possible checked the basement. It was empty as were all the downstairs rooms. So she climbed the stairs, avoiding the creaky step third from the top, then stood and listened. She heard something it came from her bedroom. She walked to the room, opened the door and found Spike.

"Buffy," he said as soon as she was inside.

"Spike, I'm here, what's happened? What's wrong?"

"Buffy," repeated Spike, "Got to find Buffy, got to get her out."

"What? I'm here," said Buffy.

Spike was in the corner of the room. He was naked, a pink towel on the floor beside him. She realised that he wasn't here in his mind, he was dreaming or something even though his eyes were wide open. She was unsure what do, should she try to wake him? Touch him? Would that make him worse? As she stood there trying to decide what to do, he struggled to his feet, well, foot. For some reason he didn't use his right leg, he must have injured it. Keeping one hand on the wall to steady himself as he moved round to the opposite wall.

Ooooooo

Spike knew he had to help Buffy. He got to his feet and made his way to the front of the cell, steadying himself by keeping one hand on the wall. He needed to get out. He pummelled the glass as hard as he could. His left leg slipped; instinctively he tried to stand on his right but the broken leg was unable to bear weight. With a scream he fell to the floor and lay there panting with pain.

Ooooooo

As Spike screamed and fell to the floor Buffy ran to him.

"Spike!"

He didn't acknowledge her at all; just resumed banging on the wall from his position sprawled on the floor. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

"Spike!"

Still he didn't connect to her presence. She was getting scared for him now, she had to get his attention. She looked at his right leg - wherever he was, that clearly hurt him, so she gripped it and squeezed it, hard. With a yell Spike turned to face her, his hands going to his leg. Buffy pushed them away and squeezed again.

"No! Please don't," begged Spike, gritting his teeth against the perceived pain.

"Look at me, then," ordered Buffy.

He looked at her, eyes widening with recognition. He looked back at the wall, through the glass front of the cell he still thought he was in.

"How can you be here? I saw them take you through there."

"I'm here, Spike, I haven't been taken anywhere. You came to my house, remember?" said Buffy.

"No, you're not real, you can't be real," said Spike, pushing himself backwards with his left leg.

"I am real," insisted Buffy, "It's everything else that isn't. I don't know where you think you are but we're in my bedroom in my house."

"Got to save her," said Spike, trying to get to his feet once more.

"Save who?"

"Buffy," replied Spike, looking at her, "Save you."

"I don't need saving, Spike, I'm right here."

She went to put pressure on his leg again but stopped as she saw him brace himself against the inevitable pain. That was only reinforcing the images he was experiencing, so she changed her mind and slapped his face instead, not holding back. Spike was half way to standing when she hit him and he fell heavily sideways to the floor with the force of the blow. He laid still, eyes closed.

"Oh God! Spike!" cried Buffy in alarm.

Afraid that by trying to snap him out of it she'd done the wrong thing, she knelt by him and stroked his face. There was a trickle of blood on his chin where she'd split his lip. She wiped it away with her fingers then bent to kiss the mark. Spike opened his eyes as he felt her lips on him. He pushed himself up until he was sitting looking at her.

"Buffy," he whispered.

He looked around the room, seeing it as it was - Buffy's bedroom, not a cell.

"Oh Christ, Buffy, I think I'm going insane," he said quietly, "You're ok? They haven't hurt you?"

"I'm fine, Spike, no one's touched me."

She put her arms around him and pulled him close. He wrapped his around her, his left hand moving up her back and neck until it was being rubbed through her hair at the back of her head. His fingers searched for the shaved patch he'd seen in his 'dream' marking where the chip had been inserted. When he couldn't find it he sagged with relief.

"Oh thank God." He sighed and clung to her.

To be continued…


	24. A Brief Respite

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: Only the plot is my own.

Thanks as always to my beta Carol!

Chapter Twenty-Four

**A Brief Respite**

Xander was waiting impatiently in the car for Giles to arrive. He was parked where he'd said he would be. He checked his watch again. Giles was late and Giles was never late. He couldn't call him, oh no, Giles being Giles refused to own a cell phone. Xander was starting to think it was about time he got over his phobia of technology and bought one of the damn things even if only so they could call him, if he didn't want to make calls himself. Then he spotted him - Giles was carrying a large holdall bag. Xander honked the car horn, and then Giles saw him, waved and walked over.

"What took you so long?" asked Xander as Giles got in the car, "Run into any trouble at your apartment?"

"No, no trouble at all, just took a bit longer than I thought to find the right books." Giles replied.

"Feeling cold?" said Xander.

"What?"

"Your sweater," replied Xander.

"Oh, er, yes, I think the mansion gets a bit chilly at times," said Giles.

His roll neck sweater had been put on to hide the mark where the Lorac Bug had been implanted.

"You ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine," said Giles.

"I'm sure you and Buffy will be ok, you know," said Xander, wondering if that was the reason Giles seemed a bit off. "This Adam's got her majorly wigged out and what Spike's been through has really upset her."

"I know; I was harsh about Spike but it is hard to think of him being on our side because he wants to be rather than because he could only fight demons," said Giles.

"Tell me about it," said Xander, "but I do honestly think he'll protect Buffy and whoever's important to her and I guess that includes us."

They drove back to the mansion.

Ooooooo

As Buffy was holding Spike in her arms her mind was racing with questions, but she held back from asking any of them for now. Whatever Spike had been going through when she'd arrived had shaken him badly.

"Spike?" she said softly, "Um…where are your clothes?"

"I put them in to get washed, they stank and were filthy."

"Oh, that's ok then," said Buffy, "I had visions of you running naked through the streets; very nice they were too." She smiled at him.

He returned hers with a weak one of his own; he felt battered from his dream, hallucination, vision or whatever the hell it was.

"I'll go see if they're finished and put them in the drier."

"You're not leaving me?" asked Spike anxiously as she let go of him and stood up.

"Only to see to your clothes. Wait here, I won't be long."

As she started to walk out of the door, Spike picked up the towel, wrapped it around his waist and followed her out.

"You're coming?" asked Buffy.

"Um, yeah, I need to have some blood," said Spike, trying to hide the fact that he didn't want to be left alone in that room in case he started to think it was a cell again.

"Have we got some here?"

"Yes, I checked before I showered," he replied.

She walked into the kitchen in front of him, pulling the window blinds down to keep the sun's lethal rays away from Spike. Buffy went down to the basement and Spike took a bag of blood out of the refrigerator and poured it into a mug before putting it in the microwave, needing the warmth of the blood inside him. He was shivering slightly although he wasn't cold. He resisted the urge to follow Buffy into the basement, he didn't like to admit it but he was afraid of being alone. What if the visions started to happen without him actually sleeping first? At the 'ping' he got his blood out of the microwave, gave it a stir and drank it. He watched the door to the basement anxiously.

When Buffy got into the basement she could see the washing cycle had ended so she took his clothes out and put them in the drier. On the shelf near the washing machine was a pile of dollar bills, a necklace and a photograph. She picked it up and looked at it curiously. It showed a very 'proper' looking couple: the man standing, the woman sitting on a chair, and standing next to them a young boy. She peered closely at it and realised it must be Spike as a child. They looked like Victorian gentry, well-to-do folk. Spike always led her to believe he was of rougher stock

She smiled as she looked at the old photograph. It may explain quite a lot about Spike's puzzling character. He'd obviously been a true gentleman before he was turned; perhaps that was why he seemed to have retained more human traits than other vampires. Angel had been a lout, layabout and a trouble maker before he was turned. Was that why Angelus, as he called himself then, was so utterly evil, the man already acting like a demon, even before he was one? But Spike, despite the killing of two slayers, had proven that, although being able to be as vicious if not more so than the next vampire, he had a depth to his emotions that others didn't have.

She picked up the money and the necklace and, along with the photo, took them with her when she went upstairs and back into the kitchen. She didn't miss the look of relief that passed across Spike's face as she reappeared.

"Just put them in the drier for fifteen minutes," she said, "I thought you might want this stuff brought up.

She put the items on the kitchen table near to Spike; he pulled the photo towards him.

"Makes you think, doesn't it?" he said, "My dad died the next year."

"How old are you there?" asked Buffy.

"I'm twelve. My father was determined to be one of the first of his friends to have a photograph taken of his family," said Spike.

"You look….well you look…." said Buffy.

"What? Posh?" supplied Spike.

Buffy nodded.

"I suppose we were; we had money, a couple of servants, and I was educated. Had it all, I suppose, more or less."

"So how come you were accosted by Drusilla in an alley?" asked Buffy.

"My usual reason for getting into trouble of course; a woman."

"So it's not just me that gets you in to trouble then?" said Buffy with a smile.

"No, not just you. Cecily was the first. She was all I ever thought I wanted in a woman - beautiful, refined, a real lady."

"Oh," said Buffy, knowing she could never be defined as refined.

Spike grinned at her, accurately reading her thoughts.

"What I didn't realise until the night I met Drusilla was that she was also a total snobbish bitch."

"That's ok, then," said Buffy in relief, "So what happened?

"Well, she didn't appreciate my affections, said I was beneath her," said Spike, knowing Buffy would remember how she'd uttered the same words to him one night, "Anyway, I stormed out of the party and literally into Drusilla's embrace. But one good thing is that if I hadn't been vamped, if I'd just lived a normal human life, I would've died in the nineteen twenties or thirties and would never have met you. So I guess in a weird way I'm quite happy that it happened."

Buffy felt her tears begin to form in her eyes. She had treated him so badly in the past but her love for him now was immeasurable.

"God, Spike, I love you so much," she said, going towards him. "Since your clothes won't be ready for a little while yet, it seems a shame to waste the fact that you're sitting there naked but for a pink towel, which, it has to be said, isn't your best look."

"Oh yeah?" said Spike, raising an eyebrow at her. "And what would my best look be?"

"That would be when you're like this," she said with a smile, putting her hand beneath the towel and feeling him harden to her touch.

"Why, you saucy…."

She cut off his words with a kiss. He picked her up and carried her into the sitting room and onto the sofa. He slowly took off her clothes, covering her exposed skin with kisses. Once she was naked he laid her on her back and kissed down her body until he opened her thighs and reached her most intimate parts. She laid back giving herself completely to his attentions.

Oooooo

Some considerable time later as they lay in each other's arms, desire well and truly sated, Buffy's cell phone rang. She sighed and picked it up, seeing from the caller id that it was Willow. She pressed the 'answer' button.

"Hi, Will," she said.

"Buff, are you ok? You've been gone ages," asked Willow anxiously.

"Yeah, I'm ok." She looked at Spike thinking _"more than ok.",_ "Sorry I didn't realise I'd been gone so long. Everything ok with you?"

"Xander and Giles are back with plenty of supplies. I've found some bits and pieces in the Initiative files but nothing too exciting or very helpful."

"Ok, I'll be back soon, see you," replied Buffy, hanging up.

She gave Spike's lean muscular body a long lustful look as he lay there on the sofa, hands cupped behind his head. He looked more relaxed than she'd seen him since he got out of the Initiative; well, one part of him wasn't looking too relaxed. She smiled at him suggestively.

"I don't think I need to leave just yet, do you?"

"You're insatiable, Slayer," said Spike with glee, pulling her on top of him, "Your turn to do all the work."

Oooooo

"Your clothes will be ready," said Buffy eventually, "I'd better go, otherwise they'll send out a search party."

"Oh, ok," said Spike, "Not sure I've got enough energy left for the sprint to the sewers, love. I'll come to the mansion after dark."

"You're coming back?" said Buffy.

"Well, yeah, unless you don't want me to?" said Spike, suddenly uncertain but desperate not to be alone.

"Of course I want you to but, don't take this the wrong way, you only stormed out this morning. Are you sure it's what you want? You're not just doing it for me?"

"To be honest, pet, I'm scared. I don't know what would have happened to me if you hadn't found me, it felt so real. I'm certain it's real, it's just not happened yet."

"What do you mean, Spike? I know I must have been in your vision upstairs from what you said but otherwise the only thing you've told me is that you were back on the table before I rescued you. How is that the future?" said Buffy.

"That was the first one, Buffy, and yeah, that was like what had gone before but the next one," he paused - the memory of it still terrified him, "in the next one Michael completed his operation but on my left arm not my right."

"But that's just your mind playing tricks on you, Spike, surely you can see that's what it is?" countered Buffy.

"No, pet, see, in that dream Michael had a hand made of metal. He attached the Polgara demon's arm to me and just…um…just threw mine away. That's why I was so freaked when I heard you telling the Scoobies what that soldier boy had said. I'd had the dream before you were back, before I knew about his hand. It's going to happen, Buffy, I'm sure of it."

"Oh God, Spike, why didn't you tell me? Tell us all?" cried Buffy in horror.

"I hadn't seen you in the dreams up to then and I reckoned if they were going to get me I'd be better away from you. You'd be safer if I wasn't with you. With everybody edgy about me being there in the first place, I figured if I told them what I'd seen they'd insist I stayed tied up for sure and I meant it, Buffy, that's the one thing I can't deal with again, not even for you."

"You won't be chained, Spike, and you won't be recaptured or hurt. I promise you," said Buffy, "So what was going on in the bedroom?"

"This time the dream went further back in time. I was in a cell waiting for them to come and get me. The door opened and I thought it must be you come to rescue me. I ran and tried to get out but then Adam was there and he broke my leg, just snapped it" said Spike, looking at his leg and running his hand over it, "Christ, I felt it break, Buffy. They broke my leg in the one time when I'd been disobedient. Ok, so it heals quickly, but it bleeding hurts and then I saw you on a gurney getting wheeled away. They'd implanted a chip into you, Buffy. I was too late to save you again." Spike stopped, too choked with emotion to talk.

"Shh, Spike, it isn't going to happen. We've defied prophecies before, the future isn't set. Let me get you clothes," said Buffy as she dressed, "then I'll go and get the others. The Initiative hasn't been watching the place so I think we should move back here. It'll be a lot more comfortable and Willow can run a protection spell around it. The we've got to work out how to take them down."

Buffy got his clothes from the basement and once he was dressed she went to the door.

"You'll be ok 'til we get back?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Spike with a confidence he didn't feel.

To be continued……..


	25. Going Home

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I own only the plot! Thanks as always to Carol for being my beta:)

Chapter Twenty-Five

**Going Home**

Buffy walked into the mansion, "Hi, guys," she said.

Dawn walked over to her. "Have you seen Spike? Is that why you were so long? Is he OK?"

"Yes, I saw Spike. He's OK, I guess. He keeps getting bombarded with visions of the Initiative," she told them, noticing that Giles was watching her rather intently. "I guess you were right, Giles, that place has left its mark."

"Oh, poor Spike, will he be OK in his crypt?" asked Dawn.

"He's not in his crypt, that's been trashed. He's back at our house and I suggest we do the same and move back there. There's no evidence that the Initiative have been anywhere near the place so it'll be much better than staying here long term. And Willow, you can put a protection spell around it, can't you?"

"Yes, sure I can. It'll let us know if anyone tries to get within ten feet of the house. It won't take long and it's easy to do. I'll just have to refresh it daily to keep its power up, that's all," replied Willow.

"Oh, thank God!" exclaimed Xander, "Another day without a TV and I think I'd go crazy."

"You're so deep, Xander," said Buffy shaking her head with a smile, "You've been quiet, Giles, are you OK with this?"

"Yes, I think it's a good idea, Buffy," said Giles.

"Just one thing I want to make clear before we go. Spike will be staying with us, he won't be chained up or locked in the basement. He'll sleep with me in my room. Dawn, can you share Willow's room with her? Then Giles and Xander, one of you can have Dawn's bed, the other the couch; I'll leave it to you to decide."

"That's fine," said Willow.

"Cool," said Dawn, with an enthusiasm that made Willow realise she'd get no sleep due to her chatter.

"You can chose where you want to sleep, old man," joked Xander.

"I have no problem with it, Buffy, I'm sure you'll keep your eye on him," added Giles, ignoring Xander's remark.

"Great. Let's get packed up and back to Revello Drive. I want to hit the shower as soon as possible," said Buffy.

"God, yes," agreed Willow.

The gang piled their stuff into Giles' car. Once it was all in, there was only just enough room for Giles to get in the driver's seat and for the three girls to squeeze in. Xander gallantly offered to walk back to the house.

Ooooooo

Spike heard the car as it pulled into the road a few minutes before it stopped outside the house. He recognised the note of its engine.

"She back," he sighed with relief. He decided he wasn't going to let Buffy out of his sight from now on.

They all got out of the car and carried as much as they could into the house. Spike opened the front door as they approached, carefully avoiding the sunlight.

"You OK?" Buffy asked him quietly as she got to him with an armful of supplies.

"Yeah, pet, I'm fine," he replied, leaning over and kissing her cheek. He took the things from her arms and put them on the kitchen table.

As the others followed them through, Spike looked around. "Where's Xander?" he asked.

"Couldn't fit in the car," replied Dawn. She went over to Spike and hugged him, "Glad you're going to stay with us."

"Thanks, Niblet," replied Spike, looking at Giles over the top of her head. "Me, too." Giles' expression was impossible to read.

"Spike," said Giles, inclining his head to him.

"Rupert," replied Spike, holding himself a little tense and waiting for Giles to give him some sort of warning about his behaviour. But to his surprise Giles just put the items he was carrying down and went out of the room.

Dawn let go of Spike and looked up at his face, "You won't leave us again, will you? It's not just Buffy who likes you around you know."

"No, Bit, I'm not going anywhere again," promised Spike, touched by her words.

Giles walked up the stairs and into the bathroom. He sat on the edge of the bath.

"_Professor?"_ he concentrated on sending the words through his mind aided by the link with the Lorac Bug.

"_Rupert."_ Maggie Walsh's voice immediately reverberated through his head, _"What news do you have for me?"_

"_We've all moved back to the house on Revello Drive."_

"_By all, does that mean No. 17 too?"_

"_Yes, he's back. He's been having dreams that are disturbing him. I don't know what they contain but Buffy is worried about them and for him,"_ replied Giles.

"_Try to find out more."_

"_I will but it may not be easy as we argued this morning."_

He flinched as Maggie screamed her reply in his mind.

"_Don't give me excuses, just make sure you find out!"_

"_I'm sorry Professor,"_ replied Giles, _"Willow is putting a protection spell around the house as soon as Xander arrives. She'll refresh it each day; the house will be impregnable._

"_You will relieve the witch of her powers,"_ ordered Maggie, _"Let her put her barrier up tonight, then strip her of her powers and she won't know her renewals will fail._

"_How do I do that?"_ asked Giles.

"_Listen carefully…"_ Maggie recounted her orders.

"_OK," _said Giles when she'd finished.

A sharp rap on the door startled him.

"Are you staying in there forever, Giles?" complained Dawn, "I need to use the bathroom, too."

"Sorry, Dawn, I won't be a minute."

He quickly splashed water on his face and dampened his hair so it looked like he'd been freshening up. He opened the door to find Dawn impatiently hopping from one foot to another.

"At last!" she gasped, rushing in.

When Giles reached the bottom of the stairs Xander walked in the front door.

"Did I miss having to help tidy all the stuff away?" he asked hopefully.

"Not entirely," said Willow, handing him some weapons, "Put these away then I can get the protection spell up and running."

"OK, Will," he replied, taking them from her and going to put them in the chest in the sitting room.

"Have you got everything you need for it, Willow?" asked Giles.

"Yes, I always have the supplies for a protection spell on me, you never know when you need to cast one living in Sunnydale," Willow replied wryly.

"You're not wrong," agreed Giles with a smile.

He went into the sitting room to find Xander already sprawled on a chair with the TV on.

"Didn't take you long to get settled back in," said Giles, sitting on the couch.

Dawn came back downstairs, "Would you like a cup of tea, Giles?" she asked.

"Oh, Dawn, that would be lovely," said Giles.

"Xander?"

"Coffee please, Dawnie."

She walked into the kitchen to find Spike and Buffy in each other's arms and kissing passionately.

"Oh please!" she exclaimed.

Buffy and Spike parted guiltily as she spoke. Dawn walked between them and picked up the kettle to fill it with water.

"I'm going to get a shower," said Buffy.

She went to the stairs with Spike following in her wake.

"You coming up?" she asked him.

"Yeah, don't really fancy sitting making small talk with Giles just yet," replied Spike, "and I don't want to let you out of my sight again."

"What, not even when I shower?" said Buffy, licking her lips suggestively.

"Especially when you're having a shower," he grinned.

The pair rushed up the stairs and into the bathroom.

To be continued…..


	26. The Mole Goes To Work

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: only the plot is mine!

Thanks as always to Carol my hardworking beta :)

Chapter Twenty-Six

**The Mole Goes To Work**

Once Willow, Dawn and Xander were settled watching an old movie on TV in an effort to forget for a moment the battle they inevitably faced, Giles went into the kitchen and prepared the spell that would strip Willow of her witchly powers. If Giles found it bizarre to follow the directions from memories that weren't his own he didn't show it. He recited the incantation quietly and poured the powder into a mug.

"Anyone for tea or coffee?" called Giles.

A chorus of three voices shouted yes and told him their preferences. He made the drinks and carried them through to the others. He watched surreptitiously as Willow drank her tea. She didn't notice anything wrong with it and drank it all. Giles allowed himself a small smile as he telepathically told Maggie that the deed had been done.

Later, as they were all going to bed, Xander having the couch and Giles Dawn's room, Giles heard Spike talking to Willow.

"Um, Red, I was wondering if…..er….well…" he stumbled over the words.

"What is it, Spike? Just say it, I'm really tired and need to get to bed," said Willow, a touch impatiently.

"Oh, right, um…..doesn't matter then," said Spike, turning to go. She caught his arm.

"I'm sorry, Spike. Come on, tell me what it is," said Willow more kindly.

Spike took a deep unnecessary breath, "Thing is, Red, with these dream things; Buffy told you, right?" she nodded, "Well, I'm afraid to go to sleep but I'm knackered. If I don't get some rest I'll be fit for nothing. I just daren't close my eyes in case they happen again." He didn't meet her eyes at any point, embarrassed at admitting he needed her help.

"So you want me to do a spell to make you sleep but protect you from the visions?" asked Willow.

"Yeah, can it be done? I don't want to be made to sleep and not be able to wake up if a dream hits me," said Spike, his fear of having magic done to him almost as bad as that of the visions.

"It's easy, Spike. Any spell induced sleep is dream free because without the spell you'd be awake and for some reason that blocks dreaming," said Willow with a reassuring smile.

"Thank God!" exclaimed Spike with such relief that Willow realised just how terrified of the dreams he must be.

"Go and get into bed, I can do the spell from outside the door. Warn Buffy that it'll be like sleeping next to a corpse because you won't stir at all for about eight hours. If anything happens before then I can reverse it quickly." She added when she saw him look worried at the mention of eight hours.

"Great. Thanks Red. Give me ten minutes before you start it, okay?"

"Ten minutes?" smiled Willow, "Is that all it takes? Poor Buffy."

"Hey!" said Spike indignantly, "Just so I can get undressed and give her a goodnight kiss is all!"

"Okay, Spike, ten minutes."

Giles stood behind the closed door to his bedroom.

"Thank goodness I heard that, otherwise if Spike had a dream they'd all know something was wrong with Willow's magics."

Fortunately he knew the spell she was going to use and would cast it himself after she had.

So after ten minutes had passed, Willow asked Spike if he was ready. He told her he was and she cast the spell to no effect at all. Seconds after she'd finished and went to her room Giles recast the spell.

"I don't think its wor…" started Spike, his words faltering as he fell instantly into a deep untroubled sleep.

"Oh I think it is working," said Buffy. She kissed Spike on his forehead. "Hope you get some proper rest now, Spike," she added softly.

Ooooooo

Ironically it was Buffy whose sleep was troubled that night, not by visions but just because she kept trying to go over in her mind what they could do to stop Maggie. Although she'd played down the significance of his visions to Spike, she wasn't so sure that they weren't portents of the future. She meant what she'd said when she'd told him that the future wasn't fixed but if they even partly came true it meant that both she and Spike, and most probably the others too, were going to end up in the Initiative; something she wanted to avoid at all costs.

She got up and paced about the room, not worrying about waking Spike since he was under the influence of Willow's spell. She thought about Maggie, she must have missed something about her. She'd never liked the woman but there'd always been a feeling that there was something more to her dislike of Maggie than just hating what she was doing to the demons. Try as she might she couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was that bothered her so much.

She sat back on the bed, looking at Spike. His chest barely showed any rise and fall; since vampires don't actually need to breathe it had always puzzled her why they did it at all. Spike told her it was just the body doing it unconsciously as it had when it was alive, exertion making it appear more normal. But when vampires slept the body barely moved at all. She reached out and touched his bare chest; it was cool to the touch, strange to be room temperature. She pulled the covers up over him.

If anything happened to him she honestly thought she'd die too. Having been given this second chance with him she was desperately afraid that one or the other of them would die at the hands of Maggie or Adam. She thought of how the others relied on her to keep them safe, too.

"God, I should have gotten Will to do a spell on me."

She got back in to bed and under the quilt, snuggling up to the inert body of Spike and eventually sleep came.

Ooooooo

When Buffy woke the next morning she could hear footsteps on the landing as someone made their way to the bathroom. She glanced at Spike, he hadn't moved all night. Then, looking at her watch, she noticed that he had about another hour of sleep left to enjoy. She pulled on her robe ready to join the queue for the bathroom. As she opened the door she saw Giles.

"Morning," she said, "Sleep okay?"

"Good morning, Buffy. Yes, thank you, I slept very well despite being surrounded by Dawn's collection of cuddly toys." He smiled at Buffy, "How was Spike?"

"Oh he slept fine, never moved. He's still got a bit of time left to go before he wakes. Good old Willow, what would we do without her?" said Buffy.

"Indeed," said Giles, delighted to hear his spell had worked. He went downstairs.

Willow came out of the bathroom and Buffy went to walk past her to get in. She stopped short when she saw her.

"Will, are you feeling okay?" You look dreadful."

"No, I don't feel so good. I'm going back to bed for a bit longer if that's okay? I think I must be getting a virus or something."

"'Course it's okay. I'll check on you in about an hour, see how you're feeling then," said Buffy.

Buffy got dressed after washing and went downstairs. Xander was still lounging on the couch but was dressed, thankfully. Dawn was in the kitchen helping Giles make some pancakes for breakfast.

"Hi, Buffy," said Dawn when she saw her sister.

"Morning, Dawnie, those pancakes smell good. Did you notice if Willow slept okay last night? said Buffy.

"She seemed to, why?" asked Dawn.

"It's just she's feeling ill and looks dreadful," said Buffy.

"Willow is unwell?" asked Giles with concern, quickly relaying that fact to the Professor via the Lorac bug mind link.

"_Did I do something wrong?"_ he asked her.

"No, not at all. If the witch is feeling unwell she must have had a lot of power. Normally they don't miss their powers in any physical way. She must be connected to the power in a much stronger way and now feels weak without its support."

"_So what do we do? Will she know her powers are gone?"_ queried Giles.

Once again Maggie recited a spell to do on Willow, this time to restore her strength without restoring her powers. A tiny part of Giles' mind wondered at how the Professor knew so much about magics, but the thought was soon suppressed by the domination of his mind by Maggie.

Ooooooo

Spike woke up suddenly, as if someone had flicked a switch.

"Wow, that was a weird way to wake up," he muttered.

Willow had been right, his sleep had been totally untroubled by dreams of any kind. He got up and pulled on his jeans and went to go to have a wash before going downstairs. He heard Giles talking on the landing as he got to the bedroom door. He listened more intently, drawing on his vampiric enhanced hearing but Giles had stopped talking. When Spike opened the door he saw Giles was standing outside Willow's door and he started when he heard Spike.

"You okay, Watcher?" asked Spike, looking at him suspiciously.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. I was just checking on Willow, she was feeling rather unwell earlier."

"Okay," said Spike as he went into the bathroom, " Am I paranoid where Giles is concerned or was he up to something just then?" he asked himself as he splashed cold water on his face. "Nah, still a bit pissed off at him not believing in me I reckon." He shrugged, dried his face and went downstairs to find the others happily munching pancakes, Giles included.

"Hey!" said Buffy when she saw him, "I thought you still had another thirty minutes or so?"

"What can I say? grinned Spike, tilting his head to one side "Couldn't wait to see you."

"Eew! Mushy stuff over breakfast – gross," said Dawn, pulling a face.

"That's not being mushy," protested Spike. He pulled Buffy into his arms and kissed her passionately. "Now that's being mushy," he said to Dawn, "and you," He pointed at Buffy, "taste of maple syrup!"

"Want some pancakes then?" asked Buffy.

"No thanks, pet, I'll just have a couple of bags of blood. Don't need to give my taste buds anything to work on except blood when it's human I'm feeding on," said Spike, "Pig's blood just isn't as satisfying. Thanks for getting me this, Xander."

He took the bags out of the refrigerator, poured one into a mug then heated it up and drank it, changing to his 'game' face as he did. He repeated it with the second bag. He closed his eyes as he felt the blood replenish him - he could feel the power and strength it gave. He felt as strong as he'd ever been, his senses at the height of their abilities. He looked around at the others in the kitchen, he knew he'd do anything to keep these people safe. It was strange but perhaps the fact that he was feeding on human blood made it easier to keep his demon in control.

A few minutes later Willow came into the kitchen, fully dressed and looking in perfect health.

"Wow, Willow, you look better," said Buffy in surprise.

"I feel better. Weird how an extra hour's sleep can help, I guess," she said.

"Or a good bout of meditation," said Xander.

"What do you mean?" asked Willow.

"Your hair," said Dawn, "It's back to normal, all the black has gone."

"It has?" queried Willow, "I haven't meditated though."

"Perhaps that's why you feel better, Willow, the dark power has been banished once more," said Giles wisely.

"Must be," agreed Willow, "Those spells must have taken more out of me than I realised."

"Anyway, I'm glad you're feeling better whatever the reason," added Buffy.

Spike remained silent. He was leaning on the door frame just watching the others, his attention once more drawn to Giles. Something just didn't seem right….

To be continued….


	27. Big Bad's Back!

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I only own the plot 

Chapter Twenty-Seven

**Big Bad's Back**

After breakfast Giles approached Spike.

"Buffy tells me that you've been having dreams that you feel are portents of the future."

"Yeah," said Spike.

"I thought perhaps if you went through them with me that I could work out a way to help you," offered Giles.

"Thanks but no thanks, Rupes," said Spike, starting to walk away.

"Surely you want to keep Buffy safe?" said Giles.

Spike stopped. "'Course I do."

"So why won't you let me help you? If anything happens to you it will affect her also."

"Look, Buffy's probably right, they're just dreams is all," said Spike, having no intention of confiding in Giles.

"Oh, okay, I'm here ready to listen if you change your mind."

Spike nodded and walked away.

Giles closed his eyes as he informed the professor of his failure to get Spike to talk. He was surprised when she calmly said he had to try again later and told him what to say to Spike to convince him to talk.

Oooooo

As morning turned into afternoon Spike wandered restlessly about the house, wishing that he'd stayed awake for the night and had Willow do her spell in the morning so he could have slept the daylight hours away. He'd had enough of things happening to him; it was about time he struck the first blow. He went down into the basement and started pounding the punch bag, needing to burn off a bit of energy.

"Number seventeen," said Giles, behind him.

Spike stopped hitting the bag and turned to him.

"What did you call me, you git?" he snarled.

"Hostile seventeen," said Giles.

Spike took a step towards Giles his face changing into his vampire features; Giles didn't so much as blink.

"Hostile Subterranean Seventeen," he said.

Abruptly Spike stood still, features fading back to human.

Giles smiled.

"_Thank you, Professor, it worked."_

"You will now tell me your dreams, every detail," said Giles quietly.

Spike started to talk, his voice curiously flat and monotone. He told him of each dream in minute detail. When he stopped talking Giles repeated the three sentences in reverse order. Spike blinked a couple of times then looked around in confusion.

"Did you just say something, Giles?" he asked.

"No, I just came down to let you know that Buffy is going to patrol later and I wondered if you were going with her."

"Oh?" said Spike. He shook his head. "Was sure you'd just said something before, um, yeah I'll be patrolling with her, not gonna let her go out without me. Why are you telling me this though?"

"I was just wondering if you could collect some things from my apartment for me whilst you're out. I don't want Buffy going there alone."

"Yeah, I don't see why not," replied Spike.

"It's just a couple of books," said Giles, telling him the titles, "and some ingredients for spells that Willow left there. They're in the kitchen cupboard near the refrigerator."

"Okay," said Spike.

Ooooooo

When dusk fell Buffy and Spike went to patrol, both armed with stakes, Buffy also having a dagger just in case.

"You okay, Spike?" she asked, "You've been a bit restless."

"Yeah pet, I'm okay, just all this waiting about's getting to me I suppose. We've got to go on the offensive, Buffy, we've got to get those bastards."

"Have you got a plan?" asked Buffy.

"Apart from go in and kick their asses? No, not as such," sighed Spike.

"Think we need a bit more than that," said Buffy.

"Why can't we just take the professor out when she's not at the Initiative?" queried Spike, "That's got to be the easiest place to get her."

"I don't know where she lives," replied Buffy.

"Well, surely Red could get that from the computer files she hacked into?"

"God, I'm so stupid! Why didn't I think of that?" snapped Buffy.

"Not your fault, love, can be distracting for a bird to be so close to such a handsome and athletic fella," said Spike with a grin.

"Pig," said Buffy but she returned his smile.

"God, Slayer, you look so hot."

"Hot? These pants are so last year and the top…."

"Shh," said Spike, putting his finger to her lips. He put his other hand behind her head and gently pulled her towards him.

When a vampire was feeling as good as Spike was, one side effect he never minded was a very very healthy libido.

"Spike, need air!" gasped Buffy, pulling away from his kiss.

"Sorry, I forgot," said Spike, nuzzling her ear.

"Suppose to be patrolling," she protested. God, she loved it when he nuzzled at her ear.

"No bad things about tonight 'cept me," whispered Spike. He lifted her up and carried her behind a mausoleum, regretting his crypt was trashed.

"Oh bollocks!" exclaimed Spike, putting Buffy back on her feet rather unceremoniously.

"What?" said Buffy just before Spike pushed her away, whipped out the stake from his duster's pocket and rammed it in to the chest of a huge vampire as it leapt at him. Coughing slightly on the dust Spike turned to Buffy.

"Spoke too soon." He inclined his head in the direction the vampire had come from.

Buffy turned and looked. "Timing much" she complained as she saw five vampires approaching.

"_Oh well," _thought Spike, _"Good bit of violence is nearly as good as sex. Christ did I really just think that?"_

He grinned and planted a kiss on Buffy's lips; he turned to the vampires and put on his 'game face'.

"C'mon then, what are you waiting for?" he yelled and he launched himself at them with glee.

Buffy was mesmerized; she was rooted to the spot. She'd never seen Spike fight like this. He was so fast, his movements so fluid, that the other vampires didn't stand a chance. Two were dusted within the blink of an eye. With those two out of the way Spike started to have some fun. He lashed out with a foot, kicking one backwards; almost simultaneously he grabbed the other and broke its neck - damn near ripped its head off its shoulders. Only one managed to land a blow but it barely had an effect on Spike at all. He whirled around and staked the vamp that had kicked him before his foot had returned to the ground. The last remaining vampire had seen enough so he turned to run.

"And where do you think you're going?" cried Spike as he turned the stake over in his hand before throwing it as if it were a knife. It hit the vampire in the back, piercing its heart; he turned to dust.

Spike walked over and picked up the stake from where it had fallen then turned to look at Buffy.

"What?" he asked, seeing her looking at him in bemusement.

"God, you're amazing," she said.

"And you've only just worked that out?" he grinned, "Shame on you."

He went to her and put his arms around her. She shrugged him off.

"No, Spike, seriously, I've never seen you like that before. You were so quick, so strong, so agile," insisted Buffy, "What's happened to you?"

Spike was suddenly solemn.

"Okay, love, you know when we first met and we wanted to kill each other all the time?"

"Yes, I remember but what's that got to do with it?" asked Buffy.

"Did you always think you'd beat me if we really had to fight one on one? Be honest."

"Well, yeah, yes I did," replied Buffy.

"Even though you knew I'd killed two Slayers?"

She nodded.

"How about now?" he asked.

"What?"

"If we went one on one now are you still certain that you'd beat me?"

Buffy hesitated for a moment then said firmly, "No, I don't think I would."

"You're right pet, you wouldn't." his serious expression gave way to a smile, "Told you I was the Big Bad."

"You still haven't told me why you're like this now. What's changed?"

"Getting the right amount of human blood mostly," replied Spike, "Getting a good solid eight hours sleep just like my old mum used to tell me I needed and of course being totally in love with you."

"You're messing with me." said Buffy crossly.

"A little bit," he pulled her towards him once more and kissed her, "It's mostly the blood. Contrary to popular belief when I was first in Sunnydale with Dru I didn't exactly go around feasting every night. I had to find food for Dru when she was ill, so I went without myself too many times to keep my strength up to maximum. Then, thanks to you, I was in that bleeding wheelchair and only got fed when Dru or bloody Angelus remembered to feed me. The sodding chip meant I ended up eating pig's blood as it was easy to get but it isn't the same as what I was designed to eat. And don't forget I've got a little bit of you inside me now, too."

"So are all vampires capable of being like you are now if they feed well enough?" asked Buffy.

"No, I'm special," he said with a grin.

She thumped him.

"Seriously, I think it's because I'm descended from the Master. Angel can be like this and Darla and Dru were no slouches either.

"Thank God for that. I was just thinking my job was going to get much harder," said Buffy.

"No, it's easier 'cause I'm here to help you," said Spike, kissing her neck near her ear, "Now where were we before we got interrupted…."

To be continued……


	28. Suspicions

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I own merely the plot

Thanks as always to Carol my trusty and hardworking beta :)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

**Suspicions**

Spike and Buffy got back to Revello Drive just before daybreak. They hadn't seen any further action, well, not of the fighting kind anyway. Giles was up and drinking a cup of tea when they arrived. He looked up in surprise as they walked in.

"You're both back!" he exclaimed.

"Well, yeah," said Spike, thinking that Giles' use of the word 'both' was a little odd; did he think only one would return? "Why?" he added.

"Why?" repeated Giles, "What do you mean?"

"Why say we're both back? Why not just you're back?" asked Spike suspiciously.

"Um, I don't know, I just saw the two of you and said 'both', I don't know why it's a problem."

"It's not," said Buffy, giving Spike a bit of a 'look', "We had a bit of action - five vamps. I think it's got Spike a bit edgy."

Spike glared at her and stalked out of the room. Buffy followed him.

"Where are you going?" she asked, catching his arm.

"Why did you say that in there?" Spike snapped, "About me being edgy? I'm not."

"No, you don't sound like it," said Buffy dryly.

"Okay, so I am edgy but about you saying I'm edgy but I'm not being edgy with Giles," replied Spike, hoping that made some kind of sense.

"Look, Spike, he didn't mean anything by it. You know Giles, why use two words when you can use three?" soothed Buffy.

Spike sighed, "You're probably right."

"Probably?"

"Okay, you're right, Spike's wrong," he said, "Oh, shit."

"What's wrong?" asked Buffy.

"He asked me to get him some stuff from his house and I forgot." He looked at the lightening sky, "Too late now, I'd better go and tell him."

The two of them went back into the kitchen.

"Um, Giles, I'm sorry but I forgot to get the stuff you needed from your apartment what with all the, er, action we had on patrol," said Spike.

"I'll go and get it now," said Buffy.

"No, don't worry about it, Buffy, I can go later. I think you two need to get some sleep. Sounds like you had a busy night," replied Giles.

"I'll just…er…wait until Red's up before I get my head down," said Spike.

"I can do the spell for you if you like?" said Giles, "It's an easy one to cast, I've done them many times."

Again Spike's feeling that something was a bit 'off' with Giles came to the fore.

"That'd be great Giles, thanks," said Buffy before Spike could speak, "Come on, I'm exhausted." She linked her arm through Spike's and pulled him in the direction of the stairs.

Spike looked at Buffy, then at Giles. She trusted Giles completely and he trusted her so he agreed.

"Okay, but can you do maybe six hours not eight?" he asked.

"No problem," said Giles with a smile.

Spike and Buffy were in bed snuggling up to each other as they heard Giles' approach. Spike's unease suddenly intensified, his senses tingling.

"I think I've changed my mind, pet," he said to Buffy.

"Don't be so silly," replied Buffy and she distracted him by kissing him. Halfway through the kiss Spike fell asleep.

"Thanks, Giles," called Buffy.

"No problem. See you in a few hours - now get some rest yourself," he answered.

"_It's done,"_ he told Maggie psychically.

Ooooooo

Spike opened his eyes; again feeling how strange it was just waking up abruptly like that. Something was wrong. Badly wrong. He leapt out of the bed - it was dark; why was it dark? He looked at the clock.

"Christ!" He'd been asleep sixteen hours.

"Buffy!" he screamed, but he knew there'd be no answer.

He pulled on his jeans, nearly falling over in his haste; he grabbed his shirt and ran out of the door.

"Fuck!"

The place reeked of the Initiative. He ran along the landing flinging doors open: no one. He ran downstairs, stopping halfway down when he saw a splash of blood. He touched it with his fingers and brought them to his nose: Buffy's. His heart would have stopped beating if it hadn't already been still. He felt sick. He ran from room to room, knowing the place was empty but having to check just in case. He was close to panic.

He went to the front door then stopped. He had to think things through, getting killed wouldn't help anyone. He walked back into the kitchen and took out six bags of blood. He drank them cold, just needing the power they gave, not caring about anything else. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and then went to the weapons chest. He selected an axe and a short sword - no need for stakes where he was going, these demons were human. He went out of the door then tried to get a trace of Buffy's scent, but all he could get was the stench of the Initiative.

He had one more place to check before he headed to the tunnels that led to the Initiative - Giles' apartment. There was a chance they could be there.

He raced as fast as he could to the apartment. He steadied his pace about two hundred yards away and used his senses to try to get a 'heads up' on what he might find. There was a whiff of the Initiative but not as strong as Revello Drive. Cautiously he approached the door. It was locked but with a swift kick it swung open and he stepped inside.

He walked past the dining table. As he got near to the couch he could see a pair of feet sticking out from behind it. He rushed forward and saw that it was Giles. He was laid face down on the floor. Gently Spike rolled him over onto his back.

"Giles? Giles? Can you hear me?"

Giles opened his eyes and then did something that terrified Spike; he smiled.

"Hello, Spike, so kind of you to come. We did want to take you first but you didn't come here last night. I actually think this way is better."

Spike backed away from Giles in horror. His suspicions were right but he'd never thought Giles would hurt Buffy.

"Giles, what have you done? Where's Buffy?"

He never heard the answer as, too late, he sensed someone behind him, and before he could turn around he was hit by a high voltage blast from a tazer gun held by Maggie, who'd walked out of the kitchen. He collapsed unconscious.

To be continued……..


	29. Captives One And All

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I own merely the plot!

Thanks to Carol my beta:)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

**Captives One and All**

Buffy woke abruptly, body tense, ears straining. What had woken her? The house was silent. She glanced at the clock. She'd only been in bed for about an hour, and the others would still be asleep. She had just started to snuggle back next to Spike when she heard it, the familiar creak of the third step from the top of the stairs; someone was sneaking up them. She got out of bed and silently tiptoed to the door. It could be Giles coming up to his room.

She'd just got to the door when she heard a muffled cry. She flung it open and rushed out, seeing the limp body of her sister being carried over the shoulder of a vampire. The shaved mark at the back of its head told her it was from the Initiative. She looked around for a weapon, eyes lighting on the stake she'd carried on patrol. She quickly picked it up and ran to the vampire, staking it from behind and catching Dawn as it turned to dust.

Her slayer instincts warned her about the attack from behind just in time for her to sidestep to avoid it. This must have been the one she heard on the stairs. She staked him as he fell past her, unbalanced from his failed lunge.

Another noise was heard, this time from downstairs. Buffy flew down them, but halfway down she was struck a vicious blow from the side. Her head banged painfully on the wall and she fell the rest of the way down the stairs, leaving a smear of blood on the wall.

She groggily got to her feet, her vision swimming in and out of focus. Adam was approaching her but she could see Giles behind him.

"Giles!" she screamed, "Help me!"

He just stood there impassive as Adam picked Buffy up by her throat and lifted her off her feet. She flailed helplessly in his grasp.

"Spike," she croaked, knowing he couldn't hear her.

Adam threw her against the wall with enough force to crack the plaster, and she lay still.

Maggie Walsh stepped into view and stood next to Giles.

"Adam, take these three back to the Initiative. You know where I want them to be placed," she said, indicating the unconscious bodies of Willow, Xander and Buffy, "And don't forget the sister," she added.

"What about Number Seventeen?" asked Giles, "Shall I stake him now?"

"Not just yet, Rupert, we can have a little fun with him first, don't you think? He's a disgrace to his kind the way he looks out for these humans, but it does mean he's very predictable." She smiled.

Ooooooo

Several hours later Buffy regained consciousness. She groaned as she sat up, wincing at the pain in her head, eyes squinting against the bright light as she looked around her. She was in an Initiative cell; no surprise there. She got to her feet and walked unsteadily to the front of the cell. Like in all areas of the Initiative, the cells were in a straight line affording no chance of seeing into the adjacent cells.

"Willow? Xander? Dawn?" she called, "Can you hear me?"

"Buffy!" the shrill voice of her sister replied, "Oh Buffy, I'm scared."

"'S okay, Dawnie, you'll be okay," said Buffy, not sure how though.

"Buff, did you see what happened?" It was Xander. "I was asleep on the couch then I woke up here."

"Willow!" called Buffy again, "Have you seen Willow?"

The others replied that they hadn't seen her or heard her. Dawn began to cry.

"It was Giles, Xander," said Buffy, forcing herself to remain calm. "I saw him just before Adam knocked me out."

"No way, Buffy, Giles wouldn't do this to us," protested Xander.

"It was him, Xander, no doubt about it. Spike felt there was something wrong and I convinced him that there wasn't."

She leant against the front of the cell and closed her eyes as she thought of Spike, lying there helpless in his enchanted sleep, knowing he'd most likely be dust by now.

"Oh Spike," she murmured.

Ooooooo

Willow woke up tied securely to an operating table.

"Oh God!" she cried and she tugged at her restraints to no effect.

She turned her head, focussing the attention on the strap around her right wrist. She started to recite a spell to open the buckle when a hand clamped roughly over her mouth. She looked up and saw it was Giles.

"_Oh thank God, he's here to rescue me,"_ she thought.

"I know you stripped her of her powers, Rupert," said Maggie, walking into Willow's eye line, "But it won't last much longer so we'd better do something to keep her quiet for the time being."

Willow looked up at Giles and was horrified to see him smiling and nodding in agreement. Maggie went out of sight and came back holding something in her hands. She held it up for Willow to see.

"This is a fabulous little device, Willow," said Maggie, "Essentially unchanged for centuries, it's what was once called a 'scolds bridle'. Basically it was to keep a nagging woman quiet; it also works quite well on witches - you can't cast a spell if you can't recite it. I've modified it a little, made it of strong webbing straps instead of the old fashioned metal, so it will be a little more comfortable for you to wear. Hold her steady, Rupert."

Rupert removed his hand from over her mouth and firmly held her chin; the other grabbed her hair pulling her head back. Before Willow could say anything Maggie thrust the mouthpiece between Willow's lips. She gagged as it filled her mouth and pressed on her tongue. The straps were pushed behind her head. One ran from the sides of the mouthpiece round the back of her head, another ran up the front of her face, her nose poking through it. But it was so wide that it half covered her eyes leaving only the outside edges unmasked. It went over the top of her head and joined the one from the mouthpiece.

As soon as it was in place Maggie recited a few words and the straps tightened themselves as if they were alive, so tight against Willow's flesh that they were almost like part of her.

"There now, little witch, you can't get up to any mischief now until I have had time to work on you properly. A witch of your power doing as I command, that's just going to be an amazing asset."

Willow tried to scream, to shout at her but could barely make more noise than a gurgle. She could no longer see Maggie as her face was directly in front of her, in the part of her vision blocked by the strap. In her peripheral vision she could see Giles still smiling eerily.

Maggie then took hold of her right hand, Giles her left, and they each put something over her hands that looked like a sock. Willow didn't know what they were but knew it couldn't be good; she trembled as she heard Maggie start to recite another spell. The 'socks' suddenly pulled tight on her hands, forcing them into fists with the thumbs tucked in beneath her fingers.

"Just in case you thought you might be able to pull your bridle off," said Maggie, "You won't be able to anyway but I don't want you to scratch your pretty face while you try."

Maggie and Giles untied her and Maggie ordered her off the table. As soon as Willow's feet hit the floor she started to run.

"You did warn me she'd do this," said Maggie calmly to Giles, "so it's a good thing we are prepared for it. Your turn, Rupert."

Giles spoke for the first time since Willow had awoken. He recited an incantation of only a few words but Willow fell to the floor as her right foot exploded with pain. She writhed on the floor, tears streaming down her face, her hands holding her foot. It too was covered with a similar substance to her hands but somehow it felt like it had knives in it that were digging into her foot. A few more words from Giles and the 'knives' disappeared, her foot throbbing furiously.

Maggie walked over and kicked Willow's left foot, "As you can see this one is ready to be used too. The next time you run both will fire their points automatically and they won't retract them again. Understood?"

Willow nodded as she lay panting in pain and fear on the ground.

"Now get up," ordered Maggie.

Willow got to her feet and limped along the corridor until she was pushed roughly into a cell and locked in.

The others could hear footsteps approaching but couldn't see who it was. They heard the cell door open and then clunk shut again. The footsteps went away.

"Willow!" shouted Buffy, "Is that you?"

Willow couldn't reply so she banged on the glass front of the cell, the covering on her fists making the sound curiously muffled. Buffy was too far away to be able to hear her but Xander in the next cell heard the thumps her fists made.

"Willow, can you hear me?" he shouted, "Knock twice if you can." _"I've seen way too many horror movies!"_ he thought as he said it.

Two knocks followed.

"It is Willow," Xander called to Buffy and Dawn.

"Why can't we hear her?" said Dawn.

"Will. Have they done something to stop you talking?" asked Xander fearfully.

Two thumps – yes.

Xander's stomach clenched, _"Oh Christ, what have they done to her?"_

"Is it…is it a chip?"

One thump – no.

"Thank God," sighed Xander.

"Are you hurt?"

Willow hesitated a little, her foot still stung, the thing on her face was uncomfortable but she rapped once – not hurt.

"She's okay, guys, they've done something so she can't talk but it's not a chip and she's not hurt," called Xander.

They were all silent for a while after this, all terrified at what would become of them. Buffy paced up and down her cell, anger filling her fuelled by the thought that Giles had betrayed them and that her lover was almost certainly dead or worse, since this was the Initiative. She tried not to think of the details of Spike's dreams.

Oooooo

Spike's nose told him where he was before he opened his eyes; the stench was unmistakable. He knew exactly which cell he'd be in, the one opposite the door to the operating room of three fourteen just like in the dream. He was laid face down on the floor; his whole body ached with the after effects of being hit by such a strong blast from the Tazer.

He groaned and pushed himself onto his side. He finally opened his eyes. He was facing the back wall of the cell, so he rolled over and sure enough there was the door to three fourteen.

He closed his eyes and lay back down, "I've killed her," he whispered.

To be continued……..


	30. A Revelation

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I own merely the plot!

Thanks to Carol for her hard work being my beta!

Chapter Thirty

**A Revelation**

None of them knew how long it had been since Willow had been put in a cell but it must have been some hours later when they once again heard footsteps echoing down the corridor.

Willow was huddled in the back corner of her cell when she saw Giles and Maggie walk past. She had to turn her head to try to get a better look. She pushed at the strap running down her face irritably with her fist but couldn't even feel where the edge of it was let alone push it out of the way.

They all heard the cell door open up.

"Christ, Giles, what are you doing with this bitch?" said Xander as Maggie and Giles walked into his cell.

Giles said nothing, just looked at Maggie as if for approval. Maggie nodded. It wasn't until Giles stepped forward that Xander realised he was holding something; he backed away.

"Look, Giles, I know you don't want to do this."

Giles simply raised the thing in his hand and pointed it at Xander's chest - it looked like a paintball gun. He fired it.

"Ow!" cried Xander as it hit him. He looked down at his chest - it was wet but not with blood. The whole of his t-shirt was soaked. He put a hand up to touch it but collapsed before it got there. He wasn't unconscious but was paralysed, barely able to still draw breath. When he tried to speak all that came out was a croak.

Maggie and Giles took an arm each and dragged Xander from his cell passing Willow as they went. Xander caught a glimpse of her.

"_Good God, what have they done to her?"_

He could see the contraption on her head but it was the way it was embedded into her that freaked him out. It looked like it had grown on her.

They managed to heave Xander onto the table Willow had been on earlier. They didn't need to strap him down as he couldn't even twitch a muscle let alone move one but Giles started to fasten straps to his wrists and ankles, his knees, waist and across his shoulders.

"This procedure will be a long one," said Maggie, "You may find the paralysis wears off before we're totally finished." She looked off to the right, "Ah Michael, you're here. Is everything ready?"

"Yes, Professor," answered Michael.

Xander couldn't see him but could hear the squeak of wheels so he knew he'd pushed something into the room. Giles, standing at Xander's shoulder, noticed him trying to see Michael so he reached out and turned Xander's head until it was facing to the right instead of to the ceiling.

"Is that better?" he asked.

Xander now wished he couldn't see. He closed his eyes then opened them again. Still he saw the same thing; Michael had pushed in a gurney with a demon strapped to it and was now beginning to cut through the flesh of its shoulder, his metal hand working as dextrously as his own had been able to. Xander was terrified; a tear ran slowly down his face.

"Oh dear, would you rather not watch?" asked Giles. He walked round the table until he knew Xander could see him, "Shame." He smiled a cold smile and walked towards Maggie, leaving Xander looking at the demon. Xander closed his eyes; there was nothing else he could do.

Ooooooo

Maggie watched Giles talk to Xander with delight. He repeated the words she'd said in his mind as if they were his own, her domination of him complete.

"Well done, Rupert," she said as he stood next to her.

"Thank you, Professor," he replied politely.

"I shall leave you to oversee this. Assist Michael in any way he needs, I shall return shortly," she said, and she left the operating theatre.

Ooooooo

Spike's body had recovered from the blast and he was pacing furiously up and down his cell.

"The future's not set, the future's not set," he muttered as he paced.

He couldn't believe Giles' part in this. If it were just him he'd have no problem thinking that Giles had joined forces with Maggie, but Buffy and the others? He just couldn't believe he'd betray them.

The door to his cell suddenly opened. Spike stopped pacing and looked at it.

"Okay, if the future's not set then I don't have to turn the same way out of this cell," he said as he slowly walked to the door.

He was just about to go out when he stopped short. A brief flash of pain hit his temples and he put his hands up to his head. His eyes widened as in his mind he could see Giles questioning him about the dreams, but more than that, he heard Giles thank the professor.

"Christ, they're linked," he whispered, "It's not Giles' fault, they got to him somehow."

He stepped boldly out of the cell and turned in the same direction as he had in his dream, figuring that if he'd told Giles and therefore Maggie all about his dream they'd expect him to avoid going the way that had led him to Adam and recapture. One thing that hadn't changed was the fact he was once more naked.

_"What is it with that bitch and my clothes?"_

He jogged gently along, all the time scanning the area for anything he could use as a weapon. He saw a small table with round metal legs, so he stopped long enough to rip one off. He swung it a couple of times. It was solid metal and heavy enough for him to inflict plenty of damage with his vampire strength behind it.

He jogged around a corner and stopped.

"Hello, Number Seventeen," said Maggie Walsh.

"Piss off."

"Is that the best comeback you have? Rather disappointing, don't you think?"

"Where are my friends, you bitch?" snarled Spike.

Maggie smiled and waved an arm, "Oh, they're in here somewhere."

Spike's features changed and with a growl he leapt at her with lightning speed, thrusting the metal bar into her abdomen several inches deep. With a cry Maggie fell to her knees than fell face forward, her body weight pushing the bar the whole way through her body.

Spike looked down at her and kicked her still body, face returning to human as he did.

"I owed you that," he said quietly before turning away, thinking the others must be in three fourteen.

He hadn't gone ten strides when he heard a movement behind him. He whirled around to see Maggie getting to her feet, the bar still protruding from her belly.

"What the hell?" Spike walked back towards her, watching in amazement when Maggie took hold of the bar and with a shriek pulled it from her body.

"Should have aimed a little higher and using wood would be much more effective," she sneered as her features changed, eyes demon yellow, teeth long and pointed, brow bumpy.

"A vampire?" gasped Spike, "You're a bleeding vampire!"

To be continued……..


	31. Save The Scoobies

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I own merely the plot!

Chapter Thirty-One

**Save The Scoobies!**

"Vampire," said Spike, staring at Maggie and shaking his head, "You're a vampire and you still fucking did this to me?" he pointed to his head. "You put a chip in me; one of your own kind."

He vamped up his features meeting her yellow eyes with his own.

"You're even more of a sodding bitch than I thought you were. I'm gonna enjoy killing you that little bit more now."

"You're one to talk, Spike," she sneered, "How many vampires have you killed?"

"Because of your bleeding chip, a vampire's got to kill something. It's only natural," countered Spike, "and I didn't bleeding torture them or control them first."

"Your chip isn't working now yet here you are trying to save your little human friends," taunted Maggie.

"How come I couldn't sense you were a vamp?" asked Spike, starting to slowly circle around her, ready to attack, "Oh wait, I get it, the stink of this place, right?"

"You're more clever than you look."

"Yeah, well, when you're as handsome as I am people forget about the brain. I get that a lot," smirked Spike.

"I can understand that," said Maggie, letting her eyes run down his body to…well you know where!

"Hey!" objected Spike, "Cut that out, you freak! Is that why you keep taking my bleeding clothes off? So you can have a look at what you'll never sample?"

"I couldn't resist it. The legendary William The Bloody in my grasp, what's a woman to do? And you did do everything I told you to, and I mean everything, including forgetting what we'd done."

"What? Shit, no, you and me…..you didn't make me…..?" Spike felt ill at the thought.

"That little noise you make as you climax, it's….how can I put it? Cute."

"That's it, you're dust," snarled Spike, lunging forward.

"Number Seventeen," said Maggie, "Hostile Seventeen, Hostile Subterranean Seventeen."

Spike abruptly stood still, features fading back to human.

"God, I'm good," said Maggie, "My failsafe for if the chip malfunctions works very well."

She walked over to him and ran her hand over his bare chest.

"Imagine how excited I was when my boys captured you, William The Bloody. You truly were the best I ever had in every way."

She stroked his face.

"I've got a bit of time to kill while Michael is at work. Hmm…what shall I do with you?" she smiled and ran her hand down towards his groin.

It got no further than his navel before Spike's right hand grabbed it.

"You're not that sodding good. Your trigger's broken," he snarled, game face showing as he spoke.

"What?" gasped Maggie, "How did you disobey it?"

"I dunno, maybe it's because I remembered Giles using it on me? Perhaps you're good but I'm better?" growled Spike "All I know is that I can do this."

He pulled her arm bringing her in front of him and then punched her as hard as he could in the face. She flew backwards, landing some twenty feet away. She got up as he ran towards her, meeting his advance with a kick that sent him staggering back.

"I was wrong, you're not so bright," taunted Maggie, "Wasting all this time fighting me while Michael is remodelling your friends. We've had some fun with the witch already, I wonder who could be next?"

"You're lying," growled Spike.

"Am I?" replied Maggie, "All that muttering you did before I shut you up, about loving her and that she'd come to save you, that's what your Slayer will be crying right about now."

Her words had the desired effect. Spike hesitated, giving Maggie the opportunity to pull out a dagger from a sheath on her belt. She dived forwards and sank the blade, up to its hilt, into Spike's side.

He roared with pain and tried to catch Maggie but she leapt out of his reach. Spinning round she caught Spike with a kick under his chin and he dropped like a stone. Maggie stood over Spike as he lay on the floor not moving.

"Such a shame, you really were my favourite." She bent down intending to break his neck but she heard one of the night watchmen approaching. He couldn't see her like this, covered in blood, so she quickly ran in the direction of three fourteen.

Ooooooo

Spike groaned and opened his eyes just in time to see a soldier take aim with his tazer. Spike rolled swiftly, not away from him but towards him. Startled the soldier stepped back and Spike lashed out with a leg, bringing him down before he could fire the weapon.

"Sorry, mate," said Spike as he knocked him out.

With a grimace Spike pulled out the dagger from his side. Before leaving the guard Spike relieved him of his pants and quickly put them on. The soldier was stockier than him but luckily he could cinch the belt tight.

"That's better," he muttered, racing towards three fourteen with the dagger in his hand.

Ooooooo

Xander watched in horror as Michael lifted the severed limb from the demon. He laid it carefully on a table then walked towards Xander.

"No, please no." Xander managed to whisper. "Giles," he said desperately.

"Rupert, clean the site with those swabs," said Michael, indicating the swabs soaking in alcohol.

Obediently Giles picked them up and started to carefully clean the area around Xander's shoulder.

"_Oh, Christ!"_ thought Xander helplessly.

Giles and Michael whirled round as the door to the operating room burst open. Xander couldn't move his head and so couldn't see who'd arrived. His vision was suddenly blurred as blood splattered on his face. Blinking he could just see Michael collapse, the hilt of a dagger showing in his neck. He gurgled wetly as he fell.

Giles snatched up a loaded crossbow and aimed it.

"Look, I don't want to hurt you," said Spike, holding his hands out palms forwards as he walked towards him.

Giles fired the crossbow as Spike had guessed he would and instead of finding its mark in his heart, the bolt just grazed his biceps as he moved sharply to the side.

"Okay, I don't want to hurt you, but that doesn't mean I won't," snarled Spike. He grabbed Giles by the throat and felt a lump beneath his thumb. He moved his grip slightly and peered at Giles' neck. There it was, the mark of the Lorac Bug.

Spike glanced round the room. He tore some of the straps from the table the demon's body was on and managed to tie Giles' arms behind his back. He pushed him down onto a chair and tied his legs to the chair's legs.

"Where are the others?" asked Spike.

Giles didn't answer.

Spike slapped him across the face.

"Where's Buffy?"

Still he didn't reply.

Spike resisted the urge to beat him harder since it would be no use; Giles couldn't answer even if he wanted to. He went to check Xander. The boy had been so still Spike thought he was dead, but then he saw his eyes moving.

"Xander mate, it's okay," he said, "Ole Spike's here, I'll get you out of here."

"Get the others," whispered Xander.

"I will, I just want to move you first."

Spike unstrapped him and lifted him over his shoulder.

"Jeez mate, lay off the cookies in future, okay?" grumbled Spike.

He carried him as fast as he could to the air vent where they'd escaped when they'd rescued him. Spike put Xander in the shaft.

"You'll be okay here," reassured Spike, "That stuff will wear off soon."

He jumped back down into the corridor, put the cover in place and ran back to find the others. He ran down the line of cells within three fourteen, sure this must be where they'd be.

"Buffy!" he shouted.

"Spike! Spike, help us!"

"Dawn! I'm coming," cried Spike.

He ran faster, glancing in the cells as he passed them. He almost fell over when he saw Willow.

"Bleeding hell!"

He opened the door to her cell, and Willow walked towards him.

"Red", he whispered, "What have they done to you?" He gave her a brief hug, "I'll be back, okay?"

He went past an empty cell then found Dawn in the next one. She launched herself at him as soon as the door was opened.

"Hey Niblet, 's okay," said Spike, "C'mon, we've got to go. Where's Buffy?"

"I think she's been taken," said Dawn through her tears, "She was in a cell near me but I heard footsteps, then a hissing sound, then the footsteps went away again."

Spike disentangled himself from Dawn and rushed to the next cell along the row. Its door was open. A quick sniff was all he needed; they'd used the gas to knock her out. He was terrified at what Maggie might be doing to her. He ran back to Dawn.

"Let's get you out."

What about Buffy?"

"I'll get Buffy," snarled Spike, his eyes glittering yellow for a second.

He gripped Dawn's wrist and dragged her along as he ran to Willow. He got hold of Willow and started to run, but she stood still, he nearly pulled her off her feet before he let go.

"Willow! Come on, hurry," he snapped.

She shook her head and pointed to her feet.

"What?" said Spike, seeing the strange things on her feet but not understanding what she meant.

"_I can't run, Spike, or else my feet will be hurt."_ She reached out to Spike's mind.

He heard her loud and clear.

"Shit! Okay, hold tight," he said and he picked her up. "Hurry, Dawnie." And they ran down the corridor through the operating room, where Giles was still tied to the chair, until they were at the vent. Spike pulled off the cover.

"Xander?"

"Yeah, still here," he replied.

Can you move yet?" asked Spike.

"A little bit."

"Okay, well I've got Willow and Dawn. When you can move I want you all to head out. Willow can't run; they've put something on her feet." He lifted the two girls up into the shaft next to Xander. "Red, let me know when you move off so I know where you are, okay?"

"_Yes."_ Floated through his mind.

He put the cover back on. Now all he had to do was find Buffy, kill both Maggie and Adam then get Buffy and Giles out of there, preferably whilst destroying the Initiative at the same time.

"How hard can it be?" he muttered as he ran along the corridors…

To be continued………


	32. Find The Slayer

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: only the plot is my own.

Chapter Thirty-Two

**Find The Slayer**

As he ran along the labyrinth of corridors within three fourteen Spike kept concentrating on one thing and kept clinging to it. So far things hadn't gone the same way as in his dreams. He glanced down at his khaki pants that he'd taken from the night watchman and as long as he kept them on he figured he wouldn't see the horrific sight of Buffy's blank face and the shaved patch where the chip had been inserted. That was his theory and he hoped, to whatever God might be listening, that it was right.

The chip had never included plans for this part of the Initiative and the only parts he were familiar with were the operating room where Giles was still tied up, the training room where he'd fought Adam and the row of cells opposite the entrance.

He paused as he came to a junction in the corridor - should he go left or right? He sniffed the air but then sneezed in disgust as the stench of the place blocked out any chance of detecting an individual scent. He strained his hearing, tilting his head. Nothing - no wait, what was that? He concentrated harder; yes, there was definitely something to the left. He ran as swiftly and as silently as he could. His bare feet hardly made a sound as he ran on the balls of his feet. The corridor ended at a heavy door. That was what he must have heard - the door closing.

Spike paused, afraid. Not for himself, but for Buffy. His fear was that one wrong move might cost her her life. He took several deep unnecessary breaths and slowly, so slowly pushed open the door. He peered inside and found another corridor. He felt his body relax a little as he stepped through the door.

"_Okay, what now?"_ he thought as he walked slowly along.

The corridor was narrow and quite dark. Spike vamped up his features to take full advantage of his enhanced sight. Another identical door was at the end of it.

"_Here we go again."_

Once more he paused in front of the door. Just as his hand touched the door a scream rent the air. He didn't need his enhanced senses for that - it was Buffy. He flung the door open and burst into the room.

"Ah Spike, there you are. I wondered how long it would be before you made an appearance. You are so predictable," sneered Maggie as he entered the room.

He whirled in the direction of her voice then froze. Maggie had hold of Buffy by her throat. In her other hand she was holding the device that implanted the Lorac Bug in to humans.

"No need for the chip with humans, Spike. As Rupert has demonstrated so well, a human cannot resist the Lorac."

Spike walked slowly towards her, "But Maggie, have you not done your homework? A Slayer's not totally human, surely you'd know that. How old are you? Mere fledge of ten years?" Spike said quietly, his eyes glancing every now and then to Buffy's face but staying mainly on Maggie. He saw Buffy's eyes widen as she realised Maggie was a vampire. He wanted to know how old she was as vampires generally get more powerful with age, "Surely you're not going to be one of those who insists they were at the Crucifixion?" he sneered

"I'm two hundred and seventy six years old," replied Maggie.

"_Bugger."_

Spike had no reason to doubt she was telling the truth. It explained a lot he supposed. When you've lived that long, you're bound to start getting bored and look for things to do, and being a vampire they'd never be of the good.

"So that makes you the fledge," she continued, "A fledge who couldn't save his pet Slayer."

She brought her arm up and thrust the blade into Buffy's neck. Buffy gave a shriek as the blade sank in then a scream as the bug burrowed its way into position. Maggie threw her to the floor.

"No!" roared Spike, leaping at Maggie.

He hit her just as she let go of Buffy, his momentum taking them both to the floor. The pair struggled frantically, each trying to get a secure grip on the other. Behind them Buffy stood up, wincing, holding her neck and shaking her head.

"Kill him!" shouted Maggie.

Nothing happened. Buffy didn't move and Spike was still struggling to pin Maggie down.

"She's got a bit of demon in her, she'll be able to fight it."

The words were barely out of his mouth when he was grabbed by his shoulders and pulled off Maggie, and then was thrown against the wall.

"You were saying?" taunted Maggie. She looked at Buffy, "Tear him to shreds."

"Oh shit," muttered Spike as Buffy turned and started to walk towards him. He knew that with his powers at full strength he'd be able to take her but was scared of how much he'd have to hurt her to prevent her from killing him.

"Come on, love," said Spike, "Fight it, don't give in, help old Spike out and don't listen to her."

Buffy paused.

"Kill him!" screamed Maggie, "I command you to kill him!"

Buffy started to approach once more.

"Buffy, concentrate, you know you don't want to kill me," said Spike, "Well, not lately anyway," he added with a rather nervous chuckle.

Still she approached. Spike kept backing up, looking around to see if he could get any ideas of how to handle this. He really didn't think he could bring himself to hurt Buffy but he certainly didn't like the way she was looking at him. Maggie kept repeating 'kill him' like a mantra.

Buffy's head was full of Maggie's orders. A tiny part of her tried to resist but it was overruled. She launched herself at Spike, viciously kicking him. He grunted as the blow landed on his torso, making him stagger backwards but he kept to his feet. She followed it by flipping head over heels intending to kick him again but before her hands had left the floor, Spike, moving incredibly fast, grabbed hold of her at the waist and held her over his shoulder, using all his strength to keep her from getting free. She screamed and kicked, punched and even tried to bite him, which Spike had time to think was pretty ironic. He ran with her to a cell he'd spotted in the corner of the room, pushing the button to release the door. Buffy took advantage of him letting go of her with one hand and wriggled free. She kicked out, aiming at that most sensitive of areas. Luckily he saw it coming and managed to bring his left leg up to block it. The kick still brought tears to his eyes but it didn't put him on the floor like it would have done if it had landed on target.

"Sodding hell, woman!" he cried, lashing out at her without thinking and just stopping himself in time from using full force. It connected on the side of her face and she reeled from the blow, falling down.

"Yes!" yelled Spike as he pushed the button and the cell door shut, trapping Buffy inside.

He stepped backwards as she hurled herself at the glass.

"Christ!" he said just before he was hit hard from behind. His head cracked against the door. He literally saw stars - all that were missing were the little tweeting birds. He shook his head. Maggie - he'd forgotten about her.

"Right, you bleeding cow!" he said as he snapped his head back, hitting Maggie's nose with a very satisfying crunch.

Spike turned round. Maggie wasn't looking quite so confident. His punch connected perfectly to her already broken nose and she fell to the floor. He kicked her in the ribs, smiling as he heard a couple break, knowing from experience how much they hurt.

"You're about to find out exactly why I am referred to as the legendary William the Bloody. What was that you were saying about me being a fledge?" he said.

She said something he couldn't hear.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that, say it again." He bent down closer to her.

She flipped over and struck out with her right arm. In her hand was the blade that she'd used to implant the Lorac.

"Oh, no you don't," said Spike, grabbing her wrist with unbelievable speed, totally in control of the situation.

He twisted her wrist; it broke; she squealed.

"Not so good at taking it as you were at dishing it out then, pet?" said Spike.

He kept hold of the wrist, grinding the broken bones together. Maggie writhed on the floor.

"So why did you do all this?" he asked, waving his free hand in the air.

"Because vampires and demons are so stupid," spat Maggie, "We run and hide from humans and one Slayer when we should be the ones in control."

"Can I ask you something?" said Spike conversationally, "Were you always such a crazy bitch or did it happen over a period of time?"

"You're the one who is crazy," she screamed at him, "These humans will turn on you in the end, they always do."

"I think I'd rather take my chances with them than with you," he replied, the bones in her wrist almost reduced to powder by his hand.

He looked Maggie in the eyes. There was nothing behind them at all, and with a jolt he wondered if that's what Buffy saw when she looked into his eyes, that terrible emptiness.

"_No, it can't be, I'm nothing like Maggie,"_ he thought, "_but you are the same - soulless demons."_ A little voice nagged at the back of his mind.

He became aware that Maggie had resumed her mantra of 'kill him, kill Spike'. Buffy, in the cell behind him, was pounding the glass in an effort to get out and get to him. He glanced at Buffy before looking back at Maggie.

"Don't waste your breath, when you're dead your hold over her will be gone," he said, changing from holding her wrist to holding her neck in one fluid move. "Your time has come, Professor. You're history."

"Not for twenty four hours.." said Maggie just as Spike ripped her head from her shoulders with such speed that it bounced on the floor twice before it turned to dust with the rest of her body.

Spike stood over the pile of dust for a moment, tears threatening to fall. The relief he felt that his tormentor was dead was immeasurable. He shook his head, took several deep breaths and pulled himself together.

Behind him the pounding on the door had slowed, and Spike turned to look at Buffy. She was still hitting at the door but now it looked more like she was just trying to get him to let her out rather than trying to get through the glass to get to him. He walked to her cell.

"Buffy, love, are you okay?" he asked gently, hand hovering over the button to open the door.

She looked up at him, conflict plain to see in her eyes. She put her hands to her head, still looking at him.

"Spike," she whispered.

"I'm here pet, you're okay." He pressed the button and the door slid back.

"You killed Maggie!" she screamed, hurling herself at him.

"Bleeding hell," said Spike, trying to hold her off as Buffy went for him like a wildcat, _"That's what Maggie meant, with that sodding Bug still in place, it's like she's still controlling them for another twenty four hours."_

"I'm really sorry, pet, but I don't have the time for this."

He avoided another blow from Buffy. He swung his fist and this time didn't hold back since a Slayer with her blood up was tough. He connected soundly with her chin and she was instantly knocked out. He caught her before she hit the floor, scooping her up into his arms and he walked out of the room to take her to safety.

To be continued…….


	33. A Bad Break

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: only the plot is my own!

Thanks as always to Carol for her beta work!!

Chapter Thirty-Three

**A Bad Break**

"_Spike? Spike, can you hear me?"_Willow's voice floated into his mind.

"_Yeah, Red, I hear you."_ replied Spike, _"You all still okay?"_

"Yes, just letting you know we're on our way out. Xander's able to walk now. Have you found Buffy?"

"_Yes, I've got her, she's alright,"_ answered Spike, noticing how she refrained from asking about Giles and correctly guessing that he'd been present when she'd had all that stuff done to her. _"Just get back to Revello Drive. Get Dawnie or Xander to run a protection spell round it for you if they can."_

Ooooooo

Spike hitched Buffy up in his arms; she was still unconscious. He decided to get Buffy and Giles out and leave Adam and closing The Initiative down for another time. He couldn't risk Buffy waking up inside here whilst still under the murderous influence of the Lorac Bug.

He paused. What had he heard? He gently lowered Buffy to the floor. There was a corner ahead and his senses were going into overdrive. He walked tentatively towards the corner. Just as he got there he heard something from behind and he glanced back to check on Buffy. Before he turned back he bumped into something and was then hurled into the air, landing on his back on the floor some ten feet behind Buffy.

He looked up but he knew exactly what he'd see and he was right – Adam. Spike scooted backwards trying to get up. Adam strode towards him.

"Oh bollocks," muttered Spike.

It was just like his dream apart from the fact he was wearing the stolen pants. He closed his eyes as Adam raised his foot, bracing himself against the inevitable excruciating pain of his right leg being snapped like matchwood. Perhaps part of the future was fixed after all.

Instead of pain there was a shifting of air and a thud. He opened his eyes and saw that Adam was down. He took advantage of that and leapt to his feet. He looked towards where he'd left Buffy but she'd gone. He spun back to Adam and saw Buffy attacking him, her face contorted with fury. Adam got to his feet, brushing her aside as easily as if she were a feather. Adam flexed his Polgara demon arm and the bone skewer shot out of it; its wickedly sharp point about two feet clear of his wrist. He ran at Spike, his intent obvious, to run him through with it.

Adrenaline coursed through Spike. His strength and speed were still at full power thanks to all the blood he'd taken and the adrenaline heightened them even more. Spike dodged Adam, lashing out with his foot, and the bone skewer snapped off. Adam roared with pain, thick blood oozing from the wound. He went for Spike again and this time caught him. He put his hands around Spike's throat and lifted him off his feet until their faces were level. Spike kicked and clawed at him but Adam ignored his efforts.

"Where's mother?" asked Adam.

"_Okay, what answer do I give? Don't think the whole' she's a big pile of dust' story will go down too well," _thought Spike, _"And why do the bad guys always ask you questions when they're bloody strangling you?"_

Luckily, before he had chance to croak out his reply, Adam dropped him as the bone skewer from his arm tore its way through his torso. Adam looked down at it and calmly went to pull it out but as his fingers touched its point, it was pulled out of him from behind.

"Get away from him," screamed Buffy.

"_Oh, thank God, she's back to normal," _thought Spike.

Unfortunately Adam chose to ignore her and went to get Spike, who punched him in the face with all his might, wincing at the pain in his left hand when it struck Adam's jaw. Adam took a couple of steps backwards. Buffy ran him through with the spear again. It slowed him down but not by much. He kicked Spike across the corridor. As Adam bent to pick him up Spike lashed out with his foot. It connected with his face but again it only unbalanced Adam for a moment. Buffy pulled out the skewer and ran between the two of them.

"Go for his eyes, Buffy," yelled Spike, realising that would be the best place to attack.

"Where's mother?" repeated Adam.

Spike had had enough, "She's fucking dead and I killed her."

Adam stood still. "She's dead?"

"Now would be a really good time to stab him again, Buffy!" roared Spike, willing her to take advantage of Adam's reaction.

Adam's face changed from one of shock to one of pure hatred; it was a terrifying sight. Up to that point Adam had only ever appeared impassive. He lashed out and hit Spike in the face, sending him reeling away.

"I told you to stay away from him," shouted Buffy, "He's mine."

She jumped up and thrust the skewer into his right eye with all her considerable might. For a second he stood there and then slowly crumpled to the ground – dead.

Spike staggered to his feet. "Nice work, pet," he said with a weak smile.

Buffy turned away from Adam and looked at Spike. She smiled.

"Hang on a minute," said Spike. That smile wasn't a pleasant one. "Are you okay? You said I was yours, remember, and I am, love; I'm all yours."

"Maggie told me to kill you. I can't let somebody else do it," said Buffy, her voice an eerie monotone.

Spike backed away a few steps. "Okay, so what? You saved me from Adam so you could kill me yourself?"

"Yes," said Buffy, advancing.

"No." she stopped.

She put her hands to her head and dropped to her knees. "Christ, Spike help me."

"Buffy, I'm here. I always will be here. Fight it. She's dead. It's only the Bug you have to fight. She can't give you any more instructions, it's just relaying her old messages," said Spike, moving towards her.

She put up her hand to stop him.

"Don't come any closer," she said, tears falling down her face. "I still feel the need to kill you. I don't want to but it's hard and I'm afraid I can't stop it."

"You're always wanting to kill me, nothing new there, love," said Spike with a bit of a grin. "Just keep fighting it, it'll get easier. Come on, let's get out of here and work on getting that thing out of you."

Buffy got up and the two of them walked along the corridor. Buffy stayed to one wall, Spike the other; Spike keeping a watchful eye on her in case she succumbed to Maggie's orders. He could see her tense every now and then as she fought the Bug's influence, but she kept resisting.

"Now you're back with me, I've got an idea of how we can finish this place off once and for all. We just need to go and get Giles then we'll do it."

"Giles," said Buffy through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, he's up here in the operating room. I got the others out; they're all okay," he said.

Buffy briefly closed her eyes. "Dawn," she whispered.

"Yeah, got Niblet, Red and Xander out. They've done some weird shit to Red but we'll sort it out."

They got to the room containing Giles - he was slumped down on the chair where he'd been tied. Spike walked towards him.

"Rupert? You okay? Feeling any different now Maggie's dead?"

He didn't respond in any way at all. He just kept sitting there, vacantly staring straight ahead.

"Oi, Rupert, snap out of it," said Spike slapping him gently across his face, trying to get his attention.

Rupert turned to look at Spike, then his eyes widened as he saw something over Spike's shoulder. Spike spun around. Buffy was wielding a piece of wood about the size of a baseball bat. She was bringing it down with full Slayer force at Giles' head.

"No!" screamed Spike.

He kicked Rupert's chair over, allowing the wood to hit his right leg mid thigh with a sickening thud. Spike collapsed on the floor, howling in pain, with his leg obviously broken.

Horrified, Buffy dropped the wood and knelt beside him on the floor. She reached out to touch him, blinking back tears as he cowered away from her. Then she was hit by an almost irresistible urge to finish the job- to kill him.

Spike saw the look on her face. "If you're going to kill me, Slayer, make it quick," he gasped. He closed his eyes and whispered, "I love you, Buffy."

The words hit their mark and Buffy sobbed, "Spike, I'm not going to kill you. It was Giles I wanted to kill, he betrayed us all."

Spike opened his eyes and looked at Buffy. "It's not his fault. They implanted a Bug into him same as you except humans can't fight it at all."

Again Buffy had to quell the desire to kill the fallen vampire since he presented such an easy target. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"But I'm human and I can resist her orders. It's there, that voice telling me to kill you but I'm fighting it."

Spike groaned again as another wave of pain hit him. "Slayers have a bit of demon in them….that's what makes them slayers…demons can resist." His voice was weak.

Buffy stood up, needing to put a bit more space between them. The urge was so strong.

"So what now?"

Spike pulled himself up into a sitting position, leg at an awkward angle, reminding Buffy of how he'd held it in her bedroom whilst in the throes of a vision.

"You get Giles out, but for God's sake don't kill him. Get him to work on whatever they've done to Red. I reckon he was there when it was done so he should know how to reverse it."

"What about you? I'm not leaving you."

"Yes you are, pet. I'm gonna hold you up - make you too slow. If you don't get Giles out I'm not sure we can help Red. You haven't seen her Buffy; it's bleeding horrible. I'll get out. It'll just take me a bit longer, that's all. Need you to do something first, though."

"What's that?" asked Buffy.

He nodded towards the wood she'd hit him with. "Need you to tie that to my leg as a splint."

"Okay," she said. As she stood up she remembered poor Giles tied to his chair. She pulled him upright, but his head lolled on his chest. "What's wrong with him?"

"Not sure, must be because of the Bug. I don't reckon she did anything else to him. Need to get those sodding things out of the pair of you."

"How come I'm managing to resist it and you couldn't? Well, you did just enough to warn me but you would've still killed me if you hadn't been chained up."

Spike closed his eyes at the memory. It had been worse than when the chip had been active as there was no part of him left uncontrolled by that. When the Bug had been in him he'd been aware of what he wanted to do but almost totally powerless to prevent it.

"I was weak, pet, starved. I tried but it was stronger."

Buffy stroked his face, pulling her hand away sharply as she felt the need to grab his throat and crush it. She untied Giles, who didn't respond, and carried the straps and the wood back to Spike. She laid the splint against the outside of Spike's leg. It was obvious the fracture was displaced, the angle not possible. Buffy looked at Spike. He had beads of sweat on his brow; his normally pale complexion had a greyish tinge to it.

"You're gonna have to straighten it, Buffy," he paused, "but…."

"It'll hurt?" she supplied.

He nodded.

"Ready?" she asked, gripping his thigh.

The slightest touch of her fingers felt like daggers were being stabbed into his leg. He nodded again. She increased her grasp and pulled, each hand going in the opposite direction – trying to pull the two ends of the bone back so they were in line with each other.

Spike screamed.

"Oh, Christ! I can't," sobbed Buffy.

"Do it." groaned Spike, "Don't stop."

She renewed her efforts, feeling the muscle or ligaments, whose spasm had pulled it out of place, tear as finally the two ends realigned with a stomach turning crunch. Spike flopped down so he was laying flat out, eyes closed. He gasped and panted with the pain. Buffy quickly strapped the splint to his leg, pulling the straps tight so it wouldn't move.

"Thanks, love."

Spike opened his eyes. Buffy was standing over him holding a splinter of wood that had broken off the splint. It was aimed at his heart.

"Buffy!" he yelled.

She started and looked down at her hand. She dropped the wood and took a few steps back. "Oh my God" she murmured. "It's getting harder to resist, why's it getting harder not easier?"

"It's because I'm hurt, love. I'm an easy target. That's why you've got to leave without me. You'll be able to concentrate on getting Giles home. If I'm there you'll be busy focussing on me and it'll probably get us all killed," said Spike.

Buffy started to protest but then stopped, knowing he was right. If he hadn't shouted her name he would have been dust by now.

"How will you get out? You can barely move."

"I'll get out, it'll just take a bit of time. Just go and get Giles back with the others. I promise you I'll come home to you," said Spike quietly.

"No heroics? You'll just make your way home?" she asked.

"No heroics," he replied, not letting her see his crossed fingers.

She pulled Giles to his feet and prodded him into moving, then offered Spike her hand to help him get up. He shook his head.

"I'll get up in a minute," he said.

She looked into his amazingly blue eyes and saw the real reasons behind his refusal. He didn't trust her not to make an attempt on him if she touched him, and also he knew it would hurt and didn't want to let her see it. She leaned down and kissed him briefly on the lips, using all her will power to walk away from him leaving him unharmed. She wiped away a tear.

"If you're not home in two hours I'll come back and I will give in to the urge to kill you," said Buffy.

She took hold of Giles' arm and led him away. They walked out of the door. She didn't look back. Spike was glad of it as he quickly blinked back tears of his own. Would that be the last time he ever saw her?

"Right, Spike," he muttered. "Let's get this job finished and close this place down. Okay, so when you had this plan you had two legs that worked. Still sure it can be done?"

He didn't know the answer to that.

To be continued…….


	34. An Unexpected Friend

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I only own the plot.

Thanks to my beta Carol :)

Chapter Thirty-Four

**An Unexpected Friend**

Spike stayed on the floor for some time. He could feel his power draining from him - injuries heal quickly but can sap strength as they do. He needed more blood. He looked at Michael's body but he'd been dead too long to be any use to him - his blood would no longer flow from his veins.

He had to get moving, he knew that. Every minute he stayed here, he was a minute nearer to capture. He put his hands onto the chair that Giles had sat on. He gritted his teeth and pushed down with his hands, levering himself to his feet, well, foot. His head swam, vision blurring. He held himself steady with effort. Only the thought of the pain he'd feel if he fell made him stay upright.

"Spike," he muttered to himself, "I think you would have been better taking your chances with the Slayer."

Another few minutes passed until he felt able to move. He needed something to use as a crutch. He looked around the room.

"_Shit, should've got Buffy to find something."_

His eyes fell on a long handled axe at the far side of the room. Its blade wasn't too large so he reckoned he'd be able to use it. He just needed to get to it. He half hopped, half dragged himself along, clinging to anything he could for support. He was panting when he got to the axe. He got hold of it and turned it upside down so its head was on the floor. The shaft of the handle was just about the right height. Spike tried it out and it did the job just fine.

He stood there trying to gather his thoughts. He knew he ought to just try to get out but he wanted this place shut down even if he killed himself doing it. His original plan had been to release all the captives and get out as quickly as possible. He knew the military would then lose control of the facility and seal it off. The problem with that now is that he wouldn't be able to move fast enough to get out before the demons caught him and killed him. So what now?

"_Blood, I need blood. Maggie must have had a supply somewhere."_

He'd just started to move when a siren started to screech.

"_Crap! They must have found Adam's body."_

He went to the door and out into the corridor beyond. By leaning heavily on the axe he found he could make reasonable progress. He hobbled along heading towards the holding cells in the main part of the complex. He hadn't decided exactly what he was going to do but he knew he couldn't get out via the air vent like the others - no way could he crawl his way along there with his leg.

He walked round a corner and found out why the alarm had sounded. Two huge demons, looking like everyone's idea of Bigfoot, were fighting in the corridor. They'd obviously gotten out of their cells and, being primitive and very aggressive, their only thought was fighting and not escaping.

"_God, how do I get past these?" _thought Spike in alarm.

He warily made his way around the pair. As he drew level, one threw the other at the wall. It hit a few feet in front of Spike but amazingly it just leapt up and attacked the other demon again.

"_Thank God for stupid Toofgib demons,"_ thought Spike, as he managed to get by them.

The sight around the next corner brought him to a halt. On the ground in front of him were three soldiers; one had literally been ripped in half, the others were covered in blood and laying still.

"Poor bastards," muttered Spike, "They never stood a chance."

He went over to the two men, groaning with the effort it took to bend down between them, and checked for signs of life. One was dead, the other alive. He looked like he'd been knocked unconscious but had no other obvious injuries. Spike looked at the dead body. He needed blood. The soldier didn't need it any more. He knew it wasn't a good thing to do but in the end his sense of self-preservation won. He changed his features and sank his teeth into the corpse's neck. In seconds he'd drained all the blood. He closed his eyes as he felt the surge of energy the blood gave him flow through his body. He heard the fighting demons starting to come back in his direction.

"Sodding hell."

Spike struggled to his feet and started to move away. As he did he saw the surviving soldier start to moan and move his limbs as he began to come round. Spike knew that if the Toofgibs saw the movement they'd kill him. He hesitated, then gave a bit of a yell and went over and grabbed the soldier by his collar and dragged him along. The effort made him grunt and his features vamp up.

Luckily he saw a door on the left. He pushed it open and had just gotten the soldier inside as the demons came past. Spike held onto the doorframe and peered out of the crack, sagging with relief as they went by without noticing.

Spike froze as he heard a buzzing sound behind him. It was the all too familiar noise of a tazer being charged ready for use.

"Don't move," said the soldier.

"Just saved your life, mate," said Spike quietly, changing back to his human features.

"How do I know you're not with them?" the soldier asked, voice quivering.

"Can I turn round?"

"Uh, okay."

Spike slowly turned round and faced the soldier, taking in his appearance properly for the first time. He was just a kid - eighteen at most.

"What's your name?" asked Spike.

"Matt."

"Look, Matt, I'm not going to hurt you, okay?" said Spike.

"But you're…..you're….." stuttered Matt.

"A vampire," said Spike, "Yeah, I know I am but I'm still not going to hurt you."

"You're going to make me become like you," said Matt, the tazer wavering about alarmingly.

"No," said Spike patiently, "I'm not going to do anything to you, alright? I just want to get back out of here."

He shifted his weight a little, leaning on the axe. Matt's hand shook so badly that he accidentally fired the tazer - it missed Spike by about an inch.

"Bloody hell, Matt!" exclaimed Spike, "Put the sodding thing down before you bloody hurt yourself with it."

To Spike's surprise Matt dropped the tazer, put his head in his hands and started to weep.

"Um….take it easy, mate…it'll be okay. Your mates will be here soon. I just really don't want to end up back in a cell though. Been there done that, got the t-shirt or rather the chip," said Spike.

Matt looked up at him, his brown eyes looking huge in his pale drawn face.

"But haven't you just escaped like those other demons?" he asked.

"I did escape but it was a while back," answered Spike.

"Why did you come back if it's not to kill us all? That's what you do, isn't it? Vampires just kill everything."

"Christ! Don't believe all the stereotypes," snapped Spike, "I'm a good guy. No, I am, really," he added as Matt just stared in disbelief, "I saved you from the Toofgibs, remember."

Matt nodded.

"Look, I've got to get out, okay? If you stay in here you should be safe enough."

Spike turned to open the door and look out. He winced as he moved his right leg.

"You're hurt," said Matt, noticing it for the first time.

"Yeah, my leg's busted," said Spike, "You've got your tazer. Keep it aimed at the door until I shut it again, okay? The reinforcements will soon be here to rescue you." He opened the door and started to hobble out.

"Wait," said Matt.

Spike looked back at him.

"You'll never get out with your leg like that."

"I'll take my chances."

"I'll help you get out but with one condition," said Matt.

"And that would be what?" said Spike suspiciously.

"I get out with you. I can't stay here. I can't stay in the military," said Matt desperately, standing up.

"No offence but not a minute ago you fired at me and said vampires were just killers. How come I'm now a good prospect as an ally?"

"If you were going to kill me you would have done so already, I reckon," replied Matt, "You saved my life so I owe you."

"Okay," agreed Spike, "but we've got to get a move on before we're overrun with GI Joes."

He turned back to the door.

"Hang on. I've got an idea," said Matt, putting a hand on Spike's shoulder. "Stay here."

The kid ran out into the corridor and back to where his colleagues were killed. He went to the body Spike had fed on and stripped it of its sweater. He picked up a cap from the floor then ran back to Spike.

"You bit him. You bit Robbie," said Matt as he handed the clothes to Spike.

"Um. Shit. Yes, I did but he was dead already. I just needed the blood," replied Spike defensively.

"I know he was. I saw them kill him," said Matt quietly. "Put them on and if we're lucky we can convince them you're one of us. This place is so big you can't recognise every soldier here. Lean on me."

Spike put the clothes on but hesitated before leaning on Matt, as equally suspicious of Matt as Matt was of him. In his experience humans weren't the trustworthiest of creatures.

"I thought you wanted to get out of here," said Matt impatiently. He hated being here and suddenly understood that Spike was his best chance of getting out and covering his disappearance.

"I do," said Spike, deciding he had no choice but to trust Matt. "I thought we could try for the southeast access to the tunnels." He tapped his head, "Maps courtesy of your boss," he added as he saw Matt's eyes widen when he realised Spike new the layout of The Initiative.

"Oh," said Matt weakly. He'd seen some of the things they'd done to the demons and that was part of the reason he needed to get out. It was just so wrong. "You know my name, so what's yours?"

"I'm Spike, though in here I was known as No. 17," said Spike dryly.

"You're No. 17?" gasped Matt, "But you were killed."

"Obviously not, mate. That was a story the Professor told to cover my third escape. Look, I'll level with you. I want to close this place down. The Slayer wants it, too…."

"Slayer?" interrupted Matt.

"Christ, don't they teach you anything in here? We haven't got time for this, so I'll fill you in later. If you want out too you will help me finish this place? The Professor was crazy…"

"Was?" asked Matt.

"Stop bleeding interrupting!" snapped Spike, "Yes, was. I killed her. The Slayer killed her pet Frankenstein too. When they find that thing's body all hell will let loose down here, so come on, let's get moving."

"Okay," said Matt, not thinking it wise to anger the vampire further.

They finally stepped out of the room. Spike was grateful for the support Matt gave him. He still carried the axe and Matt had the tazer.

"There's somebody coming," whispered Spike, "About six somebodys, I think."

"I can't hear anything," replied Matt.

"All part of the vampire package," said Spike, "It's the reinforcements."

"Let me do the talking," said Matt.

Spike raised an eyebrow.

"Trust me," Matt added.

The soldiers ran into view. Spike leaned more heavily on Matt and hung his head in case any of them might recognise him.

"What happened?" asked the first of the soldiers.

"Two Toofgib demons escaped and attacked us. We've got two men dead. Dan here got his leg broken and I took a bit of a knock before I managed to get Dan out of their grasp. I need to get him to the infirmary ASAP. He could have internal injuries," said Matt, his voice sounding strong and confident.

"I'll send John with you," said the soldier.

"No, it's okay. I've got him. You'll need all the men you have to stop those bastards," said Matt, starting to walk forwards, "Be careful, they're faster than they look."

"Okay. Get yourself checked out too. You've got quite a gash on your head."

Matt put his hand and touched the sticky mass of blood at his hairline.

"Come on, Dan, it's not much further," said Matt.

Spike moaned artistically as they walked away. Neither spoke until they were out of earshot.

"They bought it," said Spike.

"Yeah," replied Matt, "Not sure how long we've got though after they spot your tooth marks in Robbie's neck. We better hurry."

"Damn. Never thought of that," said Spike, "Is there any single switch that can override the locks on the cells?"

Matt thought for a moment, "Yes, yes there is."

"I want to unlock it to let all the demons out. You okay with that, Matt? I reckon they'll just pull out all the humans and leave the demons to it. What do you think?"

"It's a good idea. We've been drilled on that happening and you're right, if we can't contain them we retreat and seal all the exits," replied Matt.

"Right then, how do we get to that master switch?" asked Spike, "They didn't program that into my chip, surprisingly."

"We don't. I do," said Matt.

"What?"

"There's no way you're going to be able to come with me to the switch and get to an exit before they seal them. I don't think they'll fight them for long. So you make your way to the southeast access as planned and wait there. There's a light near the door. If that goes red before I'm back, get out. It'll lock down three minutes after it starts to flash."

Spike could see the sense in it. Despite the blood he'd taken from the fallen soldier, his strength was dipping again.

"Okay," said Spike.

"You'll wait for me though, won't you? Until the light flashes?" asked Matt, looking very young and frightened.

"Yeah, mate, don't worry, I won't leave you unless I have to," said Spike, "If you miss the lockdown and still want out of here, just get to the cemetery and the Albert mausoleum. You can't miss it - it's the biggest one. Be there at ten thirty any night for the next week and we'll find you and help you, alright?"

Matt nodded and held out his hand. Spike looked at it and then took it. The pair shook hands and split up - Matt running along to find the master switch, tazer at the ready and Spike once more using the axe as a crutch, making his way painfully to the exit to the tunnels.

To be continued…….


	35. Let's Get Out of Here!

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and Matt!!

Chapter Thirty-five

**Let's Get Out Of Here!**

Matt ran along as fast as he could. His heart was racing. He couldn't believe that he'd made a deal with a vampire, a vampire for God's sake. Mind you, six months ago he'd been blissfully unaware of the world of demons.

He'd joined up as soon as he'd graduated from high school, anything to escape his previous life. Numerous foster parents had raised him as he had never known his real parents. Whilst he hadn't been abused, he hadn't known much love either. His last family had made it clear that he was expected to leave once his schooling was over.

On a whim he'd signed up for the Army. He'd regretted it ever since. He'd hoped it would have been like in the movies; that it would be the family he never had. But once initial training was over he'd been assigned to The Initiative. When he arrived he knew why. He had no next of kin so he was expendable. Of the soldiers he was on patrol with more than half had no family.

He hoped that by teaming up with the vampire he wasn't leaping out of the frying pan and into the fire. At least it would mean he could disappear and start a new life somewhere else.

He hadn't told Spike that the room containing the master switch was always guarded. No reason for him to know. Matt was prepared to do whatever it took to get to that switch. This place was hell on earth and had to be closed.

Matt slowed to a walk. He checked that the tazer was ready to fire. He looked up at the steep steps leading up to the control room. His heart was beating fit to burst - he could hear it thudding in his ears. He put a foot onto the first step, took a deep breath and climbed up.

At the top of the stairs he quietly opened the door to the control room, tazer at the ready. There were two soldiers inside. Matt reversed the weapon in his hands and used it to club the nearest one unconscious. As he fell to the floor the second man turned around but before he could do anything the tazer blast hit him. He dropped to the floor next to the first.

Matt muttered an apology as he stepped over them. He studied the console in front of him. The master switch was alarmed, and if it went off he was as good as dead. Years in the stockade would be all his future held. He flicked a couple of switches then reached for the big one – the master switch. His hand was shaking as he pulled the lever. Immediately a siren blasting through the quiet deafened him.

"Oh, crap. I did it wrong," said Matt in despair.

Then he realised it was the sound of the lock down alarm. Someone must have panicked and ordered it even before the other cells opened. He had three minutes to get to the exit otherwise he'd be trapped in here with all the demons. He fairly flew down the steps, stumbling at the bottom, but managed to scramble to stay on his feet and run headlong towards Spike.

Ooooooo

Spike was leaning against the door, eyes closed, trying to blot out the pain in his leg. He had often wondered over the years whether the enhanced and speedy powers of healing a vampire benefited from brought with it increased pain. Of all the injuries he'd had, nothing had hurt like the two times he'd broken his leg.

His thoughts turned to Matt. He didn't know quite what to make of him. His instincts told him that Matt was sincere but it was very odd. At one point he thought the kid was going to fall apart then he got a grip and acted bravely.

A siren shrieking startled him. He put his right leg down without thinking then screamed as the pain threatened to make him pass out. Black spots were dancing in front of his eyes and he clung to the wall to keep his balance.

"Fucking hell," he gasped.

He looked up the corridor. Where was the kid? Three minutes after the light flashes, that's all he had to get here. Spike limped to push the button to open the door. It rose slowly, disappearing into the ceiling. He stepped through and stood on the outside of it; no way was he getting stuck inside. He hoped the kid would make it but he wanted to make sure he got home himself. He kept his eyes on the light – it started to flash.

Ooooooo

Matt was running down the corridors towards the exit as fast as his legs could go, his lungs on fire and his breath coming in ragged gasps. He had to make it out before the doors were shut. He'd have no second chance after attacking the two soldiers guarding the switch. He primed the tazer as he ran, wishing he had a conventional weapon too. He only had one blast in the tazer at a time - it took too long to make ready for a second when dealing with demons.

He raced round a corner, feet slipping on the floor and he hit the wall. In front of him was a vampire running towards him. Matt reversed his grip on the tazer and without breaking stride he swung it with all his might, hitting the vampire on the side of its head. It fell to the ground and lay still.

"_Not much further."_ thought Matt. His legs were starting to hurt.

Ooooooo

"_Christ! Where is the kid?"_ Spike anxiously peered up the corridor.

He could hear the growls and roars of various demons in the depths of The Initiative. He glanced up at the door. It hadn't started to move yet but it couldn't be long. His thoughts turned to Buffy; he hoped she'd got out all right.

"_Red? Can you hear me?"_ he projected in his mind.

"_Yes, Spike. Are you okay? Are you nearly home?"_

"_Um, I'm not but Buffy and Giles should be soon. There's a problem, Red; they've both got Lorac Bugs in them. Whatever you do, no matter what they say, for God's sake chain them up until we can get the things out."_

There was a pause.

"_Did you hear me, Red?"_ asked Spike.

"_Yeah, so Giles had one in him all the time?" _asked Willow.

"_He did. Not sure exactly when it was done but certainly before the attack on the house. It's not his fault, Red."_

"_Oh,"_ replied Willow, _"Okay, I'll get Dawn and Xander ready with the chains. Where are you?"_

"_Just about to start for home."_ He severed the mind link and looked once more for any sign of Matt.

"Come on, kid, come on," he muttered, just hoping the demons didn't find their way down to this exit before Matt did. Spike knew he'd have no chance in a fight.

Oooooo

Buffy and Giles had just climbed out of the air shaft in the woods when they heard the faint sound of an alarm going of in the heart of The Initiative.

"Spike!" cried Buffy, "Oh God, he'll be killed." She shook her head furiously as a part of her controlled by the Bug was delighted.

There was nothing they could do but get back to the others and pray that he'd make it.

"Come on, Giles," she ordered, giving him a bit of a push. He was still pretty unresponsive. Looking at him terrified her – is that how she'd end up?

They followed the track through the woods until they met a road. They turned right, heading for Sunnydale and Revello Drive. A half hour later they arrived at the door. Xander pulled it open as they walked up the path.

"Buffy! Thank God you're alive." He ran up to her and enveloped her in a bear hug.

She clung to him for a moment then pulled away.

"We'd better get inside," she said.

Dawn and Willow were waiting in the hall. When Buffy saw her friend with that hideous contraption on her face she burst into tears.

"Oh, Willow," she sobbed, hugging her and her sister.

"What's with Giles?" asked Dawn when they let go of each other.

He was standing slightly to one side, silent and impassive.

"Dunno, must be an after effect of the Lorac Bug, I guess," replied Buffy.

She started to walk towards the sitting room.

"Er, Buffy," said Xander hesitantly.

"What?"

"Um…we need you and Giles to go to the basement."

"Why?"

"Because of the Lorac Bugs in you both. Spike told Willow that you needed to be chained up until we got them out."

"Spike told you that? He's alive?" said Buffy.

"Yes, he's alive," replied Xander.

"What did he say? Is he alright?"

"Buffy," said Xander, glancing at Willow, "We didn't get the specifics, she only just managed to communicate to us about the chains."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Will. We'll sort you out," promised Buffy.

"The basement," said Xander, pointing at the door.

"Okay, okay. Come on, Giles."

She pulled Giles along with her, and Xander and Dawn followed them down the steps into the basement. Xander used the chain that Spike had been secured with for Giles, fastening the manacle to his right wrist. Giles sat down on the bed. Xander then took Buffy to the other corner where he'd prepared her chains. This time he fastened shackles to both of her wrists and her ankles, the chains long enough to allow her to stand or lie down.

"How come I get all this lot and he just gets one?" complained Buffy. "He's the one who did all the bad."

"Slayer strength, Buff, can't take any chances," replied Xander.

"I'll bring you something to eat," said Dawn, disappearing back up the stairs.

Xander sat down in front of Buffy.

"So what happened in there? How come Spike's not with you?"

So Buffy told him all about what had happened from the moment Spike found her.

Ooooooo

Spike noticed the door starting to slowly lower itself down at the same time that Matt appeared at the end of the corridor hotly pursued by a Divad demon.

"Come on!" yelled Spike, frustrated that he couldn't help him.

Matt risked a glance behind him; the creature was gaining on him. He looked at the door - it was nearly halfway to the floor. Spike was leaning down looking under it as it lowered and urging him on. As he got to the door Matt started to lunge through the gap but as he bent down the Divad hit him and he fell, his head cracking on the edge of the door. He was motionless as he hit the ground.

"Matt!" Spike screamed. He threw himself on the floor, ignoring the pain in his leg, and reached for the boy.

For the second time that day he pulled the unconscious soldier to safety by his collar. The Divad grabbed Matt's leg as Spike dragged him under the door, drawing on all his vampiric strength to do it. After willing the door to stay open, Spike now begged it to finally close. His plea was heard and it slammed shut severing the demon's arm as it did. Spike lay flat on his back with a groan.

"Bloody hell."

He eased his right leg into a slightly less painful position. He looked at Matt and could see the shallow rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, but he was out cold.

"Great," said Spike, "Just great."

He struggled to his feet, using the axe for support. He felt incredibly weak and in desperate need for more blood. He looked at Matt and for a moment considered taking some from the boy. He growled and shook his head. No, he couldn't do it; to get enough to make any difference he'd kill him. He got hold of Matt's arm with his left hand and started to drag him along the tunnel.

Their progress was painfully slow. Spike had to rest every few yards, leaning on the wall to ease his broken leg. It was only when he'd slid down the wall and sat on the floor without being aware that he had that he realised he was at the end of his strength completely and needed help.

"_Red."_ He tried to find the mind link. _"Are you there?"_ He had to force his eyes to stay open. It was so tempting just to go to sleep.

"_Spike? I can barely hear you. Concentrate harder. What's wrong? _asked Willow urgently.

"_I need help, Red. I'm too tired and weak to get home."_

"_Where are you?"_

"_In the tunnels leading from The Initiative. It's the one that comes out in the woods not far from where the air shaft does," _said Spike.

"_Okay, sit tight. I'll get Xander to come to get you."_

"_How can you tell him, Red? Have you got that stuff off your face?"_

"_No, not yet, but don't worry - he'll be there,"_ replied Willow.

"_Get him to bring the car. I've got someone with me and he's unconscious."_

"_He'll be there as soon as he can."_

"_Thanks, Red," _said Spike weakly. He let the mind link fade, leant back against the wall and closed his eyes.

To be continued….


	36. Home

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and Matt!

thanks to Carol my beta :)

Chapter Thirty-Six

**Home**

Willow walked as quickly as she could down to the basement to find Xander. She daren't run in case it activated the sharp points in the devices on her feet. Xander looked up at her as she walked down the steps. She beckoned him to come upstairs.

"I'll be back soon, Buffy," said Xander, and he went up the stairs and into the kitchen. "What do you want, Will?"

Willow gestured to her laptop which was on the kitchen table. Xander turned it on and waited for it to boot up. Willow sat down in front of it. She indicated that she wanted Xander to give her a pencil. When he passed it to her she made sure he offered it upside down and then gripped it between her two fists and slowly tapped out her instructions on the keypad.

HELP SPIKE GET HOME. IN SE TUNNELS

"Okay, will do. Is this because of his broken leg?" asked Xander. Buffy had told him about that.

YES. TAKE CAR. HAS SOMEONE ELSE WITH HIM.

"Who?" asked Xander.

Willow shrugged.

HURRY. HE SOUNDED BAD.

"I'll take Dawn with me. Will you be okay if we both go?"

Willow nodded.

"Dawn," called Xander.

"Yes?" She walked into the kitchen.

"We've got to help Spike get home. He's got a broken leg and there's someone else who needs help too."

"Who's he got with him?" asked Dawn.

"We don't know. Go grab some blood from the refrigerator. It sounds like he'll be needing some," replied Xander.

Dawn got a knapsack and put four bags of blood in it. Then the pair of them got into Giles' car and drove as near to the entrance to the tunnel as possible.

"Keep your eyes peeled, Dawnie, we don't know what to expect down here," warned Xander, holding a stake in his right hand and an axe in his left.

Dawn nodded. She was glad to be able to help out but she was very nervous. She had the knapsack on her back and carried a crossbow.

They walked along in silence. They didn't know how far down the tunnel Spike was. After ten minutes they saw Spike. He was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the wall, with his head lolling forwards. He looked - well he looked – dead.

"Spike!" cried Dawn, running towards him. She knelt down beside him and gently shook his shoulder.

Spike opened his eyes, "What? Oh Niblet, it's you," he said weakly.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Been better, pet. Just so tired." His eyes started to close again.

"Here, have this," she said, pulling out a bag of blood from her bag. She pushed it into Spike's hands.

"Huh?" said Spike, trying to focus. He looked down at the bag of blood, his features changing involuntarily. He nicked a corner of the bag and slowly sipped the blood until it was all gone.

"Do you want another?" asked Dawn, holding one out.

He nodded and gratefully took the second bag, draining it a little quicker than the first. He sighed as he finished it.

"Thanks, Niblet, I really needed that."

"I've got more if you want it," she replied, indicating her bag.

"Thanks." He took out another bag. "How's he doing?" Spike asked Xander, who was checking Matt.

"He's unconscious, which I guess you already knew," replied Xander, "His breathing's regular though. Who is he? What happened to him?"

"His name's Matt. He helped me get out and shut the place down. I said he could come back with me," said Spike, "A demon crashed his head against the door as I pulled him out but I'm a bit worried about the kid 'cause he was knocked out when I came across him earlier. Do you think he'll be okay?"

"I'm not sure. We'd better get him home." replied Xander, "He ought to go to the hospital."

"We can't do that. If the military find him they'll jail him. He opened all the cells," said Spike, "I wouldn't have made it but for him." He was starting to feel more lucid now that he'd had some blood.

"Do you think you can walk?" asked Xander.

"I think so," said Spike, starting to struggle to his feet. Dawn helped him up. He wobbled a bit before he steadied himself, leaning on both the axe and Dawn. "Can you manage Matt okay?"

"Yes, don't worry, I'll get him to the car," replied Xander.

And so the four of them made their way to the car. The effort it cost Spike even with Dawn's help had him totally drained once more as he flopped onto the front passenger seat of the car. He bit back a scream as he swung his right leg inside. Matt was still unconscious and was laid on the back seat with Dawn cradling his head in her lap. Xander climbed into the driver's seat and drove to Revello Drive.

"Get the boy out first," said Spike as Xander offered to help him out of the car.

He was concerned about Matt's continued lack of consciousness, but also wasn't sure he could move his leg out of the car without severe pain and he didn't want to show it in front of the others. He drank the last bag of blood as he watched Xander and Dawn manoeuvre Matt out of the car and up the path to the house. Willow was waiting at the door as Xander opened it. They disappeared out of sight as they carried Matt to the couch.

Spike gritted his teeth and held his right leg by the straps holding the splint and lifted it out of the car. He howled with pain. Once it was out he swung his left out to join it and then sat sideways on the seat leaning his shoulder on the back of it and closed his eyes.

"Spike," said Xander sharply, "Come on. Let me help you get into the house." He half carried Spike from the car and soon he was settled in an armchair with his legs supported by a footstool.

"Thanks, mate," said Spike weakly.

Dawn had disappeared into the kitchen as Xander brought Spike in but now reappeared with three bags of warmed blood. He took the blood from her and then looked at Xander.

"Any chance of anything a bit stronger to help it go down?" he asked.

"Sure, I think we've got some brandy around here somewhere," replied Xander and he went to track it down.

"Who is he?" asked Dawn, gesturing to Matt. She walked over and sat near his head. She stroked some of his hair from his forehead then gasped at the sight of the huge bruise it had concealed. "God, no wonder he's asleep."

"Yeah, poor bugger's had a bit of a day," said Spike. "He's been knocked out twice."

"How did you come to be together?" asked Dawn, surprised that, as a former inmate of The Initiative, Spike would bother to rescue a soldier from there.

"It's a long story, Niblet, and one best told once. I'll tell you when Xander gets back and Red's here," said Spike. "How's Buffy?"

"She's okay, but pretty pissed that she had to be chained up though. Did she really try to kill you?" asked Dawn.

"Yeah, but it's not like it was the first time, pet," said Spike, trying to make light of it.

"But she broke your leg," protested Dawn, "How can you make like it's funny?"

"She didn't mean to break my leg," said Spike, trying to make it sound better, "She wanted to kill Giles and I stopped her by pushing him out of the way but wasn't quick enough to avoid the blow." He realized as he said it that it didn't make Buffy sound any less dangerous.

"Would she try to kill me?" asked Dawn quietly.

"No way, Niblet, she'd never hurt you. She loves you," reassured Spike.

"But she loves you and Giles and still attacked you."

"Me, she can't help it, it's that bleeding Bug inside her. And as for Giles…well, she blamed him for you all being captured by Maggie," explained Spike.

Dawn was about to reply when Matt groaning and moving slightly on the couch next to her interrupted her.

"He's coming round," she said, "It's okay, Matt, you're safe. You're with friends."

His eyes opened and he looked around wildly. He lifted his shoulders, trying to sit up.

"Don't move, just relax," soothed Dawn, putting her hand on his shoulder and pushing him down again.

"What…? Where…? Spike?" he said.

"It's okay, Matt. I'm here mate- we got out. We made it," said Spike.

Matt twisted around so he could look at Spike. His already pale face blanched as he moved and without warning he threw up.

"Eew!" cried Dawn, as most of it landed in her lap. She jumped up. "Yuck!" She ran to the kitchen for a cloth then upstairs for a change of clothes.

Matt lay back down. "Oh man, I'm so sorry," he whispered to her rapidly departing back.

Spike couldn't help but chuckle. Poor Niblet. Xander rushed into the room holding a bottle of brandy and a couple of glasses.

"Is everything okay? What's wrong with Dawn?"

"Erm…Matt woke up," said Spike.

Xander turned to look at the boy on the couch who gave him a wan smile.

"And he kind of threw up on her," continued Spike.

"Oh," said Xander. "How are you feeling?" he asked Matt.

"Um…a bit like my head got smashed into a door by a demon," he replied dryly.

Xander grinned. The kid was going to be okay. "I'm Xander. Just rest there. If you feel sick again let me know and I'll get you a bowl," he said with a snicker.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it," said Matt.

"He's only taking the Mickey, don't worry," said Spike, "Glad to see you're awake. I was getting pretty worried about you."

Matt put his hand to his head and half shut his eyes. His headache was blinding. "So we did it? The place got locked down?"

"Yeah, you did it. All I did was wait at the door for you," said Spike.

"Well, thanks for saving my life, again," said Matt.

"Hey Xander," said Spike, "You going to hold that brandy all day or start pouring?"

"Oh right, sorry," said Xander, pouring a large measure into a glass and passing it to Spike. "Matt, do you want some?"

"God, no!" he said, still feeling distinctly green, "Stomach's still a bit…well…you know."

"I certainly do," said Dawn as she walked back into the sitting room.

Matt's pale face was infused with colour as he blushed at the memory. _"Great introduction,"_ he thought, _"And she's so pretty."_

"It's okay," laughed Dawn, seeing his discomfort, "Trust me, I've been covered in much worse over the years." She'd brought a cloth and cleaned up the few splashes that had missed her.

"Where's Willow?" asked Spike, "I want to fill you all in."

"She doesn't want to come into the room. She doesn't want Matt to see her like she is," replied Dawn.

"Tell her not to be so sodding silly," said Spike, "I need to tell you all and Matt needs to see what things they've done to a human. Then he'll know he's done the right thing to get out of there."

He opened the mind link. _"Red, come on in here, love,"_ he said gently.

Willow walked into the room. Matt's eyes flew wide open. He pulled himself up until he was sitting.

"Oh my God?" he muttered, "What the hell is that?"

"It's so she can't cast spells," explained Spike, "She's human but she is a very powerful witch so the Professor had to shut her up." He looked at Willow, whose eyes were brimming with tears. "Shh pet, don't cry, we'll get it off you I promise, okay?"

"_Soon,"_ begged Willow in Spike's mind, _"I haven't been able to drink or eat since they put this on me."_

"We'll start on it as soon as I tell you what Matt and I did in there," replied Spike aloud.

"Matt, you've met Xander and Dawn's…um…the one you introduced yourself to," said Spike, chuckling once more as both Dawn and Matt glanced at each other and blushed, "Willow." He gestured at her, "And there's two more of us – Buffy, who is the Slayer, and Giles, who was her Watcher and now is…well…is our top research guy."

"So where are they?" asked Matt, unable to take his eyes from the contraption on Willow's face.

"Chained in the basement," answered Xander.

"What?"

"They've been infected by a Lorac Bug which used to link them to Maggie and even though she's dust…"

"Dust?" said Matt.

"Yeah, the bitch was a vampire," continued Spike, "Anyhow, 'til the bugs are out of them they're a bit unreliable, especially Buffy around me. Maggie's last orders were to kill me."

"Oh," said Matt, wondering it he was indeed in the fire after the whole frying pan analogy earlier.

Spike took a long sip of his brandy, savouring it.

"After I got you lot out I went back for Buffy," said Spike.

"She's told us what happened up to the point of her leaving you behind."

"Oh? Right then, well after that…." He went on to recount what had happened to him, how he met Matt and how they got out; Matt filling in the blanks about getting to the switch.

To be continued….


	37. Can We Help Willow?

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: They're not mine! I know it!

Thanks as always to my faithful and hardworking beta Carol :)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

**Can We Help Willow?**

Spike was exhausted when he finished telling his story. Dawn had brought him another two mugs full of blood whilst he was talking. He was grateful that she'd put it in a mug as Matt couldn't hide his disgust at the sight of him drinking the blood and at least it looked better than from the bag. Spike pretended not to notice, knowing Matt was struggling to take in all he'd learned since he'd woken up.

All Spike wanted to do was to sleep - to let his body heal itself and to be blissfully unaware of the gnawing pain he was enduring at the moment. But he couldn't, he had to help get Willow free of the hideous muzzle Maggie had put on her.

"Xander," said Spike, "Can you bring Giles up here? I don't think I'd make the stairs, mate. Keep his hands tied just in case."

Another reason why Spike didn't want to go to the basement was that he didn't want to see Buffy. He couldn't bear to see the torment in her eyes whilst she struggled against Maggie's commands that the Lorac was still emitting.

Xander nodded and went down to get him.

"Do you think he'll be able to help Willow?" asked Dawn anxiously.

"I hope so, Niblet. I just hope we can do it before we have to get the Bug out of him. Red needs that thing off of her as soon as possible," replied Spike.

Willow looked at him, tears once more brimming in her eyes. Spike held out his hand to her and she came over, sat on his footstool, and took his hand in hers.

"It'll be alright, pet, I promise," reassured Spike, squeezing her hand.

Matt swung his legs off the couch so he was sitting up rather than lying down. He was still deathly pale. Dawn had followed Xander out of the room and came back in with a bowl of warm water, a cloth and a towel. She sat next to Matt.

"Can I get you cleaned up?" she asked.

"Um…yeah…I suppose," said Matt hesitantly. "I'm so sorry about before." He gained a bit of colour with his embarrassment.

"Forget it," said Dawn with a smile.

She dipped the cloth into the water and started to wipe the blood away from the cut on his forehead.

"Ouch!" complained Matt, pulling away from her touch.

"Oh, don't be such a baby," said Dawn.

"I'm not! It really hurts," said Matt.

"Well, in that case you'd better grit your teeth because it's going to get cleaned," Dawn told him firmly.

"Better do as she says, Matt," said Spike with a grin, "These Summers women always get their own way."

"Okay then," said Matt, smiling shyly at Dawn, "But take it easy, please."

"I will," promised Dawn.

Xander returned with Giles as Dawn started to wipe Matt's face again. He had carried one of the chairs from the kitchen in with him and put it down in front of Spike. He then pushed Giles down onto it. He understood that Giles had been under the influence of a Lorac Bug when he'd plotted with Maggie against them. But he could barely contain the urge to beat the man senseless for what he'd help do to Willow. It was only the fact that Giles held the key to putting it right that stopped him.

"Rupert," said Spike, hoping he'd be more lucid than when he'd last seen him.

Giles lifted his head and looked at Spike. Their eyes met for only a few seconds before he dropped his gaze to avoid them.

"Spike," he said quietly.

Willow was still sitting next to Spike holding onto his hand tightly. Rupert made sure he didn't look at her. Since arriving at the house things had become a little clearer for him and he was deeply ashamed of his part in what had happened to them all, especially Willow. He'd been powerless to resist. He was acting as almost an extension of Maggie herself.

"So, Rupert, we need to get this crap off of Willow. Can you help us?" asked Spike.

"I don't know," replied Giles, his voice barely audible.

"What do you mean you don't know?" yelled Xander, gripping Giles' shoulder.

"Xander," cautioned Spike, "What do you mean, Rupert?"

"I want to help but I'm not sure that I will be able to. It's still there, telling me you are my enemies," whispered Giles.

"Look, I know you can't fight the Lorac Bug, Rupe, but Red's going to get ill if she can't drink or eat something soon. Do you know the enchantment that was used?"

"Yes," said Giles.

"Thank God," sighed Xander.

Spike had noticed Giles' expression change when he heard Xander's words. Spike knew what it felt like to have one of those Bugs in him and he knew it had just tried to regain dominance of Giles, even though Maggie's death made its hold more tenuous. He decided he needed to change tactics a little. No way would Giles be able to openly reverse the spell.

"Xander, Dawn, Red, can you go into the kitchen? I think it'll be easier if you're not here," said Spike.

Xander started to protest but Spike fixed him with a hard stare and instead he helped Willow to her feet and led her out of the room. Matt went to get up when Dawn did but Spike stopped him.

"It's okay, Matt. Stay there, mate," said Spike, "He doesn't know you so I don't think it'll matter that you're here. You really don't look up to moving anyway."

"What about you?" asked Dawn, "How do you know it's not your presence that is affecting him?"

"That one's easy, pet," said Spike with his trademark smirk. "He bleeding hates me. No guilt there, Niblet, for the Bug to pick up on."

"Good point," said Dawn, smiling ruefully. "Just make sure he tells you what we need to know."

Spike waited until they'd gone.

"That better, Rupe?" he asked.

Giles nodded.

So how do you remove one of those scold's bridles then?" asked Spike. He vamped up his features for effect, "I need the witch to do a spell for me on this traitor to The Initiative." He pointed at Matt who gasped.

"_My God, it's been a trick all along,"_ he thought.

For a moment he could feel the flames from the metaphorical fire he now knew he was in. The flames were suddenly doused when Spike turned to him and winked. Even though the sight of a vampire winking was a very unnerving sight, Matt realised Spike was just role-playing. He sagged back on the couch with relief.

Giles looked at Spike for what seemed like a very long time before he began to speak.

"You have to recite the original spell backwards," he said.

"Tell you what," said Spike, "Why don't you go through what you have to do and I'll remember it and use it on the witch later?"

"Alright," said Giles, a touch reluctantly. "But you must be careful, Maggie says she's a very powerful witch."

"If she's that bad, perhaps I'd better not risk using her. I'll just eat him," he said, grinning at a very uncomfortable Matt. He allowed his features to return to human before adding, "I'd still be interested to hear the ritual."

Giles nodded then began to recite from the memory banks held by the Lorac Bug the spell to free Willow of her muzzle. Spike hoped this would work, that Willow was close enough for it to take effect. By asking Giles just to recite it for reference rather than let him think he was actually casting the spell, he hoped the Lorac wouldn't be provoked into stopping it.

As Giles was talking Spike really, really hoped it worked on Willow as he hadn't realised that reciting the spell backwards actually meant every word was pronounced backwards, not just the phrase said in reverse order.

When Giles said the last word, there was a yell from the kitchen.

"Quick Dawn! Help me pull it off," shouted Xander.

Then there was a sound of coughing.

"Red?" called Spike, looking at the door to the kitchen, "Did it work?"

"We got it off, Spike. You did it!" replied Xander.

"That's gr…"

Spike's words turned into a scream as Giles hurled himself at Spike; kicking his broken leg and then falling on top of him. His hands were still tied behind his back but he kicked, head-butted and tried to bite Spike in his fury.

"Bloody hell! What is it with you people biting me?" roared Spike, remembering Buffy's earlier attack. "I'm supposed to be the bleeding vampire."

He let out another scream as Giles once more kicked his broken leg. Just as Spike thought he was going to pass out with the pain Giles was pulled off him. Spike focussed with effort and saw Matt was his rescuer.

"Thanks, mate," he gasped, closing his eyes.

Xander ran in from the kitchen and got hold of Giles.

"I'll take him back to the basement," he said.

Matt released his hold on Giles, wobbled a bit then sank to the floor as his legs gave way.

"Matt!" cried Dawn, rushing to him, "Are you okay?"

"Er…yeah…I think so…just felt kind of dizzy," replied Matt weakly.

"I'm not surprised after the knock you've had on your head. Let me help you up."

Matt gratefully accepted and was soon sitting on the couch. He looked at Dawn and kept hold of her hand. She caught his eyes and smiled, gave his hand a squeeze then got up to check on Spike who wasn't looking so good.

"Spike?" said Dawn.

He slowly opened his eyes, "Hey, Niblet."

"You did it, it worked – look," said Dawn, pointing at the door.

He looked up and saw Willow walking into the room. Her face still bore red marks where the straps had been and her eyes were red-rimmed but Spike thought she'd never looked so pretty.

"Oh, Red, thank God. You're okay? You're not hurt?"

She walked over to him and knelt beside his chair.

"I'm fine, Spike. Thank you." She kissed him on his cheek.

If a vampire could blush he would've. "'S alright, Red, but what about your hands and feet? I'm not sure he'll fall for the trick twice. You'll have to wait until we get the Bugs out of them."

"I can get the spells done for these myself now that I can talk again," said Willow, "What about you? You look terrible."

"Been better pet," said Spike "I'll be okay but I need a bit more to eat and then some sleep. Can you put a protection spell around the place?"

"It's already been done," said Xander, re-entering the room.

"You?" asked Spike, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, don't look so surprised. I've been around Willow for years. I'm bound to pick up a few things," replied Xander. "Here, I've got you some blood." He passed Spike three bags of warmed blood.

"Er thanks," said Spike, taking them from him. He glanced at Matt before vamping up his features, nicking the first bag and starting to suck the blood out. He didn't know why he was so worried about Matt seeing him drink the blood. He supposed it must be left over from The Initiative when he was ordered to hide his vampiric features.

"Do you want me to help you up to a bed?" asked Xander.

"No, I'll just stay here, mate," said Spike, unable to bear the thought of moving. "Just give me a couple of hours, yeah?"

His eyes were already closing as he spoke, the exhaustion and pain finally taking him over.

"Come on, let's give him some peace," said Xander, "Let's go get something to eat. You must be starving, eh Willow?"

"I sure am," she replied.

Dawn held her hand out to Matt, "Are you feeling well enough to eat?"

He smiled shyly, "I think so." He took her hand and the four of them went into the kitchen, leaving the vampire sleeping peacefully.

To be continued……..


	38. Making Friends

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I only own the plot.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

**Making Friends**

As they all settled around the kitchen table Matt looked at the faces of the people that held the key to his future. Willow, a witch – God he could still barely could get his head around stuff like this – still had red marks on her face from the weird contraption that had just been removed. He looked at the man, Xander. He'd been fiercely protective of Willow when the other guy, (Giles? Rupert?) had been in the room but they didn't look like they were together. And then there was Dawn; he smiled as he looked at her. She was so pretty, with her big expressive eyes and shiny long dark hair. He hadn't really seen any girls since he'd joined The Initiative six months ago. With the exception of Maggie Walsh, the entire staff had been male and apart from when on patrol the troops weren't allowed out of the building. Only the higher-level officers could act normally. For the rank and file no leave was given. She noticed him looking at her and smiled at him. His heart skipped a beat.

"So, Matt, what's your story?" asked Dawn.

"Um, nothing special really," muttered Matt.

"Where are you from?" asked Willow kindly, seeing the boy looking uncomfortable.

"I was raised in Marshall, Missouri." replied Matt.

"Any brothers or sisters?" asked Xander.

"Erm, no." said Matt. He took a deep breath and decided to tell them the truth. The vampire sleeping in the next room had saved his life – twice, so he owed them that. He just hated people's reaction to it. "I never knew my parents. I was just abandoned in a doorway when I was a few hours old. I was brought up by foster parents."

"Oh," said Dawn, "That's so sad. Didn't your new parents have any other children either?"

"No, I wasn't adopted," corrected Matt, "I was fostered out to various couples. The longest I was with any family was two years. I think I would have stayed there for longer but Rachel died in a car crash and Tom had to let me go. That was when I was eight. They were good people." He glanced at them, wincing at the pity in their eyes. He didn't want pity. He'd had it better than some. Okay he'd had it worse than some, too.

"It wasn't so bad, I mean I wasn't abused," said Matt, quickly adding "in any way. But when I left school I didn't really have many options so I joined the army. That's when things got worse for me."

"How did you come to be at The Initiative?" asked Xander, "Did you volunteer?"

"God, no!" said Matt sharply. "Sorry, it's just that I don't think anyone would ever volunteer to go to that place. In fact until you actually arrive there, you don't know it exists."

"How can that be?" asked Dawn, rising from her seat to start to heat some soup for them to have.

"I don't know how they have managed it, but I had never heard of it nor knew anyone who had," continued Matt, "I was just asked if I wanted to take part in a special operation. I'd only just finished initial training. I was flattered I suppose, and I was stupid enough to say yes."

"How did they select you?" asked Willow.

"That's easy," said Matt grimly, "No next of kin. I'd guess that half of the soldiers are like me – no one to make a noise if we disappear."

"Oh my God," gasped Dawn, "Thank goodness you're out now."

"Yeah," said Matt with a smile, "Who would've thought I'd be helped out of there by a vampire?"

"Takes a bit of getting used to," said Xander, "But don't think they're all like Spike. They usually wouldn't think twice about eating you."

"Forget my story, what's his? He told me he was No. 17. He was a legend in there…er...for lasting so long." He stopped, realising how awful it sounded.

Xander told him how Spike had been captured and had escaped, but not before the pain chip had been implanted. How he'd sort of joined forces with them since he could only attack demons, and of how he'd developed feelings for Buffy. How she hadn't been able to cope with her growing love for him and so had panicked and ended it. His recapture and subsequent torture for more than a year at the hands of the Professor had shocked them all.

"The state the guy was in when we got him out was terrible," Xander said, "And trust me, I've never been Captain Peroxide's biggest fan."

"Captain Peroxide?" asked Matt, puzzled.

"Willow chuckled, "That's kind of an out of date nickname now. Spike used to bleach his hair white blond."

"_Okay,"_ thought Matt, _"This is seriously weird – a vampire bleaching his hair?"_

Although he'd come to realise that vampires were a breed apart from the other demons; that they could function in human society - albeit at night. He'd never really thought of them doing anything like that. A blood sucking, super-powered killing machine sitting with a peroxide solution on his hair? Matt started to chuckle. Once he'd started his nerves made him unable to stop and soon he was laughing uncontrollably. Xander, Dawn and Willow just stared at him. He leant over the table, resting his head on his folded arms, trying to stifle his laughter. Eventually, with a snort, he managed to stop. He wiped his eyes and looked at the others' blank faces.

"Uh, sorry," he said, sobering _"Great, now they think I'm a lunatic."_

Dawn put a mug of soup in front of him. He risked a look at her, and when their eyes met she smiled at him.

"'S okay Matt," she said to reassure him. He'd had a very strange day and different people reacted to the stress in different ways. They'd all been there at some point.

"No, it's not," replied Matt, "I mean the guy saved me – twice - and I shouldn't laugh at him." He felt ashamed.

"Matt, you weren't laughing at him as such," said Xander, "God knows I've laughed at him enough so it'd be no problem if you were. But you're just letting some of your tension out, that's all."

"This soup tastes like ambrosia," said Willow, successfully changing the topic of conversation.

"I bet it does. I don't know how you managed so long," said Dawn, watching her friend holding the mug in her fists. "You've got to get those things off your hands and feet, Willow. I hate seeing you like that."

"I will, just as soon as I have another mug of soup," replied Willow, pushing her now empty mug across the table to Dawn.

Dawn got up and refilled her mug and also two more.

"Xander, will you take these down to Buffy and Giles please?" she asked.

Xander was about to tell her to do it herself when he caught the look in her eye – she didn't want to see her sister chained up.

"Okay, Dawnie." He got up and took them down into the basement.

"Er, so how long are they going to be kept down there?" asked Matt. "Is that…er…Giles always like that?"

"No, he's usually very calm and very normal," said Willow, "When I've removed these things from me, I can do the spell to rid them of the Lorac Bugs that Maggie implanted in them to control them. They'll have to be chained up for twenty four hours after that and then they'll be back to normal."

"Oh right," he said weakly, _"More spells. Is this really real or am I dreaming?"_

Dawn sat down next to him and shyly put her hand over his own, which was resting on the table.

"It'll be okay, Matt. You'll be safe with us," she said, "unless you want to move on?"

He looked into her eyes and knew he was lost. "No, I'm not going anywhere if I can help it." Without thinking he leaned forward and kissed her gently on her lips, before becoming aware of Willow's amused gaze. He blushed and pulled away.

"Good," muttered Dawn, a touch breathlessly, "Staying is good."

Ooooooo

"What's going on up there?" snapped Buffy as soon as she saw Xander.

"Hello, Buffy, nice to see you too," he replied sarcastically.

"I'm sorry Xander, it's just driving me crazy sitting here doing nothing." She glared at Giles, "I'm not fond of the company I'm being forced to keep."

Giles flinched at her words and turned even further away from her. Xander could see his shoulders shaking slightly and knew he was weeping, but he could feel no compassion for the man who had done them all such damage. Hell, he even wanted to hit him for attacking Spike. Xander put a mug on the floor near to Giles.

"Soup," he said bluntly, before sitting down near to Buffy and passing her a mug.

"Thanks, Xander," said Buffy.

"I think we may have a bit of a situation brewing," said Xander gravely.

"God, what now?" said Buffy, tensing up.

Xander's face relaxed into a smile. "I think Dawn and Matt are pretty taken with each other."

"Matt?"

"He's the young soldier that helped Spike to get out," Xander told her, "I can't be totally sure since I'm a guy but I think he's cute."

Buffy smiled, "Cute, huh?"

"Yeah, and a bit of a hero for helping Spike – you know how fond of Spike Dawn is."

"I'd better take a look at this Matt," said Buffy, "Unlock me."

Xander shook his head, "You know I can't do that, Buff. Not yet. I'll deny this if you repeat it but to tell you the truth I'd hate for you to kill Spike, okay?"

Buffy closed her eyes and nodded knowing Xander was right. "Spike." She whispered, "How is he?"

Xander looked away from her, "He's not in great shape, Buffy, but I'm sure he'll be alright in time. We're feeding him well and he's sleeping at the moment."

Although the Lorac Bug was still there, Maggie's hysterical demands it had emitted were fading, enabling Buffy to feel for the pain Spike was suffering. Knowing that she'd caused it.

"He needs my blood again, Xander," she said, eyes opening wide as she realised she'd actually managed to say it without the Bug stepping in and preventing her.

"I thought we'd had this conversation already, Buffy. He's not going to chew on you again," replied Xander.

Buffy rolled her eyes impatiently, "Bring a sharp knife, a mug and a bandage down to me. I can soon provide him with some without his teeth getting anywhere near me." As Xander hesitated she added, "Please, Xander, I've got to do this. I hurt him, now I've got to make him well again."

Xander nodded and went to get the items they needed for the blood letting.

Ooooooo

"Spike?" Xander shook the vampire's shoulder.

"Huh?" Spike half opened his eyes, "Just a bit longer, mate. Ole Spike needs a bit more sleep, 'kay?" he mumbled.

"I think ole Spike needs to drink this then go back to sleep," said Xander, waving the mug of blood under Spike's nose.

The effect was galvanistic. Spike went from being bleary to fully alert in a microsecond - sitting bolt upright and staring at Xander with amber tinted eyes.

"That's….." he started then stopped as a shaft of pain hit his leg as it protested at the sudden movement.

"Yeah," replied Xander, answering the unspoken question. He held out the mug to Spike.

Spike's hand shook as he took it from Xander. His mouth literally watered at the thought of the Slayer blood it held. His Slayer's blood. His features involuntarily vamped up. His mind was full of the images of when he'd taken the blood directly from her; the remembered sensations tingled throughout his body. He moaned softly, shifting his position, hoping Xander hadn't noticed how tight his jeans had suddenly become. To drink of your lover was the ultimate sexual act for a vampire – even if it was only from a mug.

"Um…I'll leave you to it. We're all going to get some sleep now," said Xander uncomfortably, as he disappeared out of the room.

"_Oh hell,"_ thought Spike, _"He had noticed. Can't help it, can I – vampire, yeah?"_

He slowly sipped the blood, savouring every drop, and thankful that it hadn't been diluted with any other.

"Buffy," he whispered as sleep reclaimed him.

To be continued……


	39. Debugging The System

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I own only the plot 

Chapter Thirty-Nine

**De-bugging the System**

Spike slowly roused from his long sleep. The first thing he became aware of was that the nagging pain he'd felt ever since he'd broken his leg was gone. He tentatively moved his leg. It was still sore but he knew the Slayer's blood had worked its magic and sped up the healing beyond its normal rate. God, he loved being a vampire!

He sat up and unbuckled the straps holding the splint on his leg. Although his leg wouldn't properly bear his weight yet he could get away without using the splint. Spike looked over to the couch- it was empty. He listened hard and could hear four people breathing upstairs. All were asleep.

Spike swung his legs to the floor and gingerly stood up. He tried taking a step. It hurt but felt stable enough and so he made his way to the kitchen, limping badly.

His stomach growled loudly and he opened the refrigerator, taking out two bags of blood. He put them in the microwave to heat. At the 'ping' he took them out and quickly drained them both.

He glanced over at the basement door. He reckoned he could manage the steps if he took it slowly. He opened the door and, clinging to the handrail, made his way down.

Giles was laid on the cot facing the wall. Buffy was sprawled on the floor. Both were fast asleep. Spike stood looking at Buffy for a moment. Her face was smudged with dirt and her hair was all mussed up but just looking at her made Spike's unbeating heart sing.

He limped over to her, eyeing the length of her chains to make sure he was out of reach. There was a stool against the wall and he eased himself onto it. He didn't wake her, just sat staring at her, drinking her in with his eyes like he'd drunk her blood the previous day – savouring it.

Spike wasn't sure how long he sat there looking at the love of his whole existence. As a human he'd never experienced reciprocated love. Although he had loved Drusilla, what he felt for her paled into insignificance in the light of what he felt for Buffy. He ached with the need to keep her from harm.

Buffy moaned softly and shifted in her sleep. A few minutes later she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Spike's face, a look of such adoration on his face she almost melted.

"Spike," she whispered, holding out her hand towards him.

"Buffy."

When he didn't move to hold her hand she sat up and frowned at him. "No hug?" she pouted, knowing he couldn't resist it.

"Oh, Buffy." groaned Spike, "Don't do that."

She grinned at him, "So why no touchie-feelie? You don't want a piece of this?"

"Cut it out, Slayer. I'm in no shape to get out of your clutches if that damned Bug starts doing its number on you."

"But I feel fine, Spike. Maggie must have been dead for twenty-four hours by now. I'm sure I've been chained here for at least that long," grumbled Buffy, "and I wasn't even near enough to pound on my roomie." She added, glaring at the still sleeping Giles.

"Easy, Buffy. It's not the bloke's fault any more than this was yours." He indicated his leg.

"But I wasn't aiming at you," said Buffy, "Not my fault you put yourself in the way."

"Yeah, but you still wanted to kill me, didn't you?" When Buffy stayed silent he continued, "Look love, you know what we have to do. We'll get the bleeding thing out of you and then you'll be free, okay?"

"After another twenty-four hours," said Buffy, going a little pale at the memory of how much pain Spike had gone through when his was expelled.

Spike knew what she was thinking. "It's okay, pet. I'll make sure Willow keeps you asleep long enough, I promise."

A rattle of chains from the opposite corner made them both look over to Giles. He'd woken up and was staring in their direction.

"Morning, Rupert," said Spike. He couldn't believe the state the guy was in. He looked half the size he actually was the way he was all huddled up.

Buffy made a threatening noise and glared at him. Giles shrank even smaller and looked away.

Spike turned to Buffy. "Did you just growl?" he asked, astonished.

"Um…it always works for you," she muttered, colouring up under his gaze.

"That's because I'm a sodding vampire!" He couldn't believe how pig-headed Buffy was being about Giles. "Look pet, I'm going to see if the others are awake then get Red to start on these spells, okay?"

Buffy nodded at him, wincing for him as he got up and limped up the stairs.

"And don't bloody growl at him again."

Ooooooo

Spike waited in the kitchen long enough to down the last two bags of blood. He had to eat much more when healing. He wondered if Xander would go and get him some more. He hobbled to the foot of the main stairs.

"Couldn't have lived in a house on one level, oh no," he grumbled as he started to climb them, being very careful not to miss his step. If he fell the leg would surely break again.

On the landing he paused and sniffed a couple of times to ascertain who was sleeping where. Dawn and Willow were sharing Willow's room, Matt was in Dawn's bed and Xander Buffy's. Spike grinned as he thought that it was the only time the whelp would be in her bed. Xander hid his crush on Buffy more successfully these days, as he knew nothing would ever come of it. But Spike could sense the other man's desires where a human couldn't – Xander would always care deeply for Buffy. Spike couldn't help but feel smug knowing that he was the one who held the Slayer's heart. He tapped gently on the girls' door.

"Red? Are you awake?"

He heard movement inside and then the door was opened and there stood Willow, wearing red pyjamas with little white sheep all over them. She looked at him expectantly. He noticed the ugly red marks had gone from her face. She waved her hands in front of him. The penny dropped – the weird things on her hands had gone.

"Oh Red, you did it! That's great!" he said just before she enveloped him in a bear hug.

He staggered back a step, gritting his teeth as he put too much pressure on his leg.

"Steady pet, still healing, yeah."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she cried, letting go of him and taking a step back "But look- no splint- no crutch."

"Yeah, advantage of vampiric healing," he said with a bit of a smirk, "So how did you get them off?"

Willow looked at her hands and feet and wriggled them as if she still couldn't quite believe she was free.

"Was easy," she grinned, "Advantage of being a witch," she said, mirroring his words.

"Great not being ordinary, huh?" He paused for a moment, as both reflected on their extraordinary abilities before continuing "So can we start getting those bleeding Bugs out of Buffy and Giles now?"

"Yes, I'll get on it right away. I'll just get dressed then I'll be down."

Spike nodded then turned and slowly made his way downstairs.

Ooooooo

About thirty minutes later Willow came downstairs followed soon afterwards by Xander. They found Spike sitting in his armchair resting his leg on the footstool.

"Hey Spike," said Xander, "Willow tells me that your leg's feeling a lot better."

"Yeah, it's getting there, mate," replied Spike, "Sleep well, did you?"

Xander missed the innuendo Spike was aiming at him about sleeping in Buffy's bed.

"Like a log, I was done in."

"Um, I'm all out of blood. Any chance you could get me some more?" Spike couldn't quite believe he'd just asked Xander for a favour, but things had changed between them since Spike had returned from The Initiative.

"I'll go and get some from the hospital once the spells are underway."

"I've been thinking about that. Buffy's not happy about Giles being near her…"

"Can't say I blame her," interrupted Xander.

"Yeah, well I think it's best to separate them. Giles will be all right tied up in here, I reckon. Buffy had better stay in the basement with the whole Slayer strength thing going on. Bring him up before Willow begins the spells as she's going to make them sleep through it. Better that they do, 'cause trust me, the pain is bloody terrible."

"I'll go and get him now."

Xander left the room. As Spike watched him go, Willow caught his eye.

"I heard what you said. I'm so sorry that you didn't sleep long enough when I expelled your Bug. I'm sorry that you hurt."

"'S okay pet, not your fault. I got through it, didn't I? Just promise me Buffy will sleep longer."

Willow nodded, "I will."

Xander reappeared with Giles and he was soon secured to a chair, wrists tied to its arms and ankles to its legs. Giles carefully avoided making any eye contact at all. He looked like a broken man.

"Are you going to start on him?" asked Spike.

Willow grimaced but agreed. She cast the spell to make Giles sleep. Spike watched as she mixed the foul smelling potion, recited the incantation and painted the paste onto his neck.

"I had it all over my arm. How come he's just getting it on his neck?"

"They implanted it into your arm and it has to exit at the same place it was inserted. You told me that Maggie put it straight into Buffy's neck so I guess that she'll have done the same to him. There are no marks on his arm like there was on you."

"I think you're right," Spike agreed.

They left Giles sleeping and as Willow and Spike made their way down to Buffy, Xander headed out to get Spike's supplies.

"Hey Buffy," said Willow, "Are you ready to get de-bugged?"

Buffy and Spike stared at her.

"Just make sure she stays asleep long enough, okay?" Spike said gruffly, hating the thought of what Buffy was going to have to go through. "Ready, pet?" he added softly, looking at Buffy.

She nodded. "Let's get this over and done with," she said firmly.

Willow whispered the spell and Buffy slumped to the floor. Spike was immediately at her side, lowering himself carefully to sit beside her. He stroked her hair gently from where it lay across her neck before Willow began the ritual.

As Willow spoke she looked at Spike. He was never any good at hiding his emotions and he certainly couldn't conceal them now. Tears were brimming in his eyes as he sat there, unable to keep from touching Buffy, murmuring comforting words as he did.

A bloodcurdling scream rent the air. Willow never flinched but Spike nearly jumped out of his skin.

"What the hell was that?" he gasped, staggering to his feet, "The protection spell – has it failed? Oh Christ, Niblet's up there!"

"The spell's okay Spike, don't sweat it," said Willow coldly without looking up.

Another scream. This time Spike realised what he was hearing.

"Giles," he cried, staring at Willow in horror, "He's woken up! Your spell didn't take. Oh my God – Buffy!"

"She'll be fine, Spike," said Willow, her voice flat.

"What? How do you know? Oh God, you did it on purpose. Red, what have you done?"

She still refused to look at him, "Nothing more than he deserved."

Spike for once was lost for words. On one hand he sympathised with why she'd done it but on the other hand it was a dangerous line she'd just crossed. He dragged himself up the steps as quickly as he could. As he passed the foot of the main stairs he was almost knocked over by Matt as he careened down to see what was happening.

"Are we being attacked?" he asked Spike frantically.

"No, it's okay, Matt. It's just the Bug being expelled from Giles," replied Spike, leaning on the boy gratefully as they went into the lounge.

Giles was shaking and thrashing in the chair and drenched in sweat. His ropes still securely kept him in place but his efforts were threatening to turn the chair on its side.

"Giles!" Dawn screamed as she ran into the room.

Matt caught her in his arms. "Shh, he'll be okay, he'll be okay." He looked over her head and raised his eyebrows at Spike.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. It'll hurt like hell but he'll be alright," he said, answering Matt's implied question.

"Buffy? Will she be like this?" asked Dawn in a small voice.

"No, Niblet, she'll be asleep."

Dawn stared at him for a moment before she realised. "Oh, Willow," she sighed.

"Can you take her back upstairs, Matt? She doesn't need to see this."

Matt nodded, and keeping his arm around her he led Dawn out of the room.

Giles groaned pitifully, his eyes rolling back in his head, and he bucked violently against his restraints.

"Oh shit, Giles, I'm sorry about this," said Spike compassionately, "Maggie may be dead but she's still managing to leave a bit of torture behind, isn't she? Dammit Red."

Spike untied the ropes holding Giles. It took a bit of effort as they had been tightened by Giles' movements. He reckoned that Giles was in no state to harm anyone and if he stayed tied as he was he'd end up being hurt. Spike tried to help him to the couch but he just collapsed onto the floor, his whole body wracked with tremors.

Spike sensed a movement behind him and turned to see Willow a few yards away.

"Red, you've got to do another sleeping spell," said Spike, "Look, I know what he did to you was unforgivable but it was Maggie's doing, not his. You've got to understand that. He had no choice-no option. He will have been aware of all he's done but been powerless to prevent it. He was completely under her control."

"I can't," she whispered.

Spike fixed her with a hard stare then pointed to Giles writhing on the floor.

"This isn't right, pet. It just isn't right."

"I can't do it."

"You can, you've bloody well got to," snapped Spike as Giles gave another pitiful moan. "He'll end up having a bleeding heart attack."

"No, Spike, I really can't. It's not safe to do another spell while the enchantment is in place. That's why I couldn't prevent you from waking."

"Christ," growled Spike, "Go and stay with Buffy, okay?"

She nodded and fled from the room.

"Well, Rupe, it looks like you and me are in it for the duration," said Spike as he settled himself into an armchair to watch over the stricken man."

To be continued….


	40. They're Out!

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: only the plot and Matt are mine!

thanks to Carol as ever for betaing this for me:)

Chapter Forty

**They're Out!**

Matt took Dawn back upstairs and into her bedroom where he'd slept that night. He'd kept his arm around her shoulder as they'd walked up the stairs and he had to admit he'd liked the way she leaned in to him.

"Everything will be alright, Dawn." he said as they sat on the bed.

"But poor Giles! It hurt Spike badly and he's so much stronger than him." Dawn sobbed, "I can't believe Willow has done it on purpose. It must have just been a mistake, that's why he woke up too soon."

She turned and rested her head on his shoulder. Matt put his arms around her and tried to soothe her.

"Spike said Giles will be okay and I know I haven't known him long, but I don't think he'd lie to you Dawn, I really don't."

"I know but it's just we've all been through so much, I really thought it would be over. That the pain was over for everyone."

"It's tough, Dawn, but be strong. Things will get better," reassured Matt.

Dawn looked up at him, eyes huge and still glistening with tears. "I hope so."

He stared at her. God, he wanted to kiss her so much but now wasn't the time. Not only did she barely know him, but also it would be taking advantage of her distress. He stood up abruptly.

"You must be hungry. Stay here and I'll go and get us some breakfast and a hot drink, okay?"

He left the room before she could reply.

_"Come on, Matt – get a grip – it's not like you've never seen a pretty girl before, for God's sake."_

He looked in at Giles and Spike.

"How's he doing?"

Spike looked up at Matt, "Holding his own, I think. It's hard to tell."

Matt looked at Giles who, although still trembling, was now silent. "He's quiet now. That's got to be a good thing, right?"

Spike shook his head, "Not so sure. I think that the poor git's too exhausted to make any sound."

"How long will it last before the bug's out of him? Is it really a bug?" grimaced Matt.

"The pain will last for about an hour once the Bug has been expelled. That should be happening any second, I think. Yeah, it's a beetle-like creature called a Lorac Bug. Apparently the thing comes out alive and kicking; Buffy stamped on the one that came out of me."

"God, this is so weird. I still can't get my head round it," said Matt.

Spike smiled at him, "Hang around here long enough, mate, and you'll get used to it. Can you let me know how Buffy's doing before you go back up?"

"Yeah, will do," said Matt, leaving the room. He could hardly look at the prone figure on the floor. He couldn't believe he'd been part of an organisation that was capable of such things. He hoped he and Spike had managed to close the place down.

Willow was sitting on the stool near Buffy when Matt got down into the basement.

"Everything okay? Spike asked me to find out how Buffy is."

"Yes, she's fine, Matt." Willow replied.

Matt looked at Buffy curiously – it was the first time he'd seen Dawn's big sister. They weren't really very much alike, he thought, as he stared at her.

"Um…well, I'll go and let Spike know and get Dawn something to eat," said Matt, hurrying back upstairs. He didn't know which was creepier, watching poor Giles suffering or watching Buffy in her magically induced sleep. He'd just got back into the kitchen when he heard Spike shouting.

"What the f..? Bleeding hell!

Matt raced to the room just in time to see Spike fall over.

"Quick! Get it!" yelled Spike pointing to the floor several feet in front of Matt.

Matt's eyes widened in surprise as he saw the Lorac Bug scuttling across the carpet. He leapt towards it bringing his foot down on it as hard as he could.

"Ugh!" he groaned as the creature squelched beneath his bare foot. "Jesus," he said with feeling when he lifted up his foot and it was stuck to the sole. He flicked it off with his index finger.

He looked at Spike, who was still on the floor, then glanced at Giles.

"Oh, my God!" He rushed towards him. "Spike, look!"

Spike turned around and saw blood pouring from the wound on Giles' neck. He crawled quickly to him, features morphing into his demonic ones as he lunged at Giles' neck.

"Spike! What are you doing?" yelled Matt, _"Christ, he's out of control! He's going to eat him!"_

Spike glanced back at Matt and snarled, mouth covered in blood. Matt took an involuntary step back then gritted his teeth and grabbed Spike by the shoulders and pulled him away. He wasn't sure what he was going to do but to his relief Spike's face was normal again. Before he could speak Spike pointed to Giles. Matt looked at the wound in amazement – it had totally sealed over – not even a drop of blood was now leaking out.

"Vampire saliva," said Spike, "Useful stuff."

Matt's eyes returned to Spike.

"Um…er…sorry about that…I…er…thought you were…um…" his voice trailed away.

"'S okay. I know what you are thinking but I didn't have time to tell you first," said Spike.

"Are you alright? You didn't hurt your leg when you fell?"

"I'm fine. Wish Willow had warned me that the little bleeder was going to jump up in the air when it came out," replied Spike, taking the offered hand and getting to his feet.

He tested his injured leg and was pleased that it felt no worse.

"I've got to get to Buffy. Her Bug must be ready to jump out, too." He limped as quickly as he could to the basement.

"What about him?" asked Matt, pointing at Giles who was laid trembling on the floor.

"I think he'll be okay for a minute. Go back to Dawn and don't tell her about the bleeding, it'll only make her afraid for Buffy."

Ooooooo

Willow couldn't meet Spike's eye as he stood next to the two girls. It suited Spike fine, as he really didn't know what to think of her just now. Buffy moved in her sleep, body tensing.

"Get ready, Willow, it's gonna…"

The creature emerged from Buffy's neck. Willow caught it neatly about a foot away from its exit wound. She threw it to the floor and squashed it with the head of an axe.

"…come out." finished Spike.

He lowered himself next to Buffy and licked the rapidly bleeding wound. A thrill went through his body as he once more tasted his lover's blood. He concentrated on the job at hand and closed the wound. He heard Willow gasp as she saw him at Buffy's throat and he looked at her still in vampire mode, daring her to say anything about it.

"How did you know it was going to bleed like that?" she asked.

"Giles," answered Spike succinctly, letting his features fade. "Least you got the expulsion part right."

Willow paled. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, "I don't know what came over me."

"Not me you need to apologise to," said Spike, "Let me know when she's awake. I'd better get back to Giles."

"You stay here," said Willow, "I'll watch over Giles."

"Just let me know when she's awake," repeated Spike, and he returned to the lounge.

To be continued……


	41. Matt And Dawn

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: they're not mine and I know it!

Thanks as ever to Carol for her beta work.

Chapter Forty-One

**Matt and Dawn**

Matt went back up to Dawn. He'd had a quick look in the kitchen and made a few sandwiches with fillings he'd found in the refrigerator. Not the most 'breakfasty' of food but easily taken upstairs. He'd also made them both a cup of coffee, remembering how Dawn liked hers from yesterday. He pushed the door open with his foot, juggling the plate of sandwiches and the cups in his hands.

"Hey, Dawn, here you go," he said, passing the plate to her, "Not a great breakfast but…"

"It's fine Matt, thanks," interrupted Dawn, "How are things down there? I heard some shouting."

"The Bug is out of Giles and probably Buffy too by now. It took Spike by surprise, that's what the shouting was about. I had to stamp on it to kill it."

Dawn looked at his bare feet.

"Yeah, I know, it felt horrible," said Matt with a grin, "I think I'll need to go for a shower!"

"Don't leave me just yet though."

"I won't leave you, Dawn," said Matt, "Spike said it should all be over within an hour."

"How's Giles?"

"He's quiet now," said Matt, hoping she'd take comfort from it like he had until Spike had shared his concerns. "Buffy was sleeping peacefully when I checked on her."

"Sit with me?" asked Dawn as Matt continued to stand.

"Uh, okay." he said and he sat down, carefully leaving a couple of feet between them. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel pressured by him. He was finding it increasingly difficult to resist touching her, holding her hand and let's face it, kissing her.

Matt felt her eyes on him and turned to see her watching him. Their eyes met and for a moment he forgot to breathe. She put her cup down and moved the plate from the space between them. Then she hitched up until her body was touching his. Still their eyes didn't break contact. She leaned towards him, putting her hand on his shoulder and meeting his lips with her own. Matt kissed her back, trying to be as restrained as possible, desperate not to scare her off. He broke contact first, needing to check that she wanted this as much as he did. He needn't have worried.

"I know what I'm doing," said Dawn firmly, "I'm not that young, you know."

"Um, well, that's okay then," Matt replied with a smile. "But there's no hurry, Dawn. I'm not going anywhere unless I have to."

They looked at each other for the longest time before Matt kissed Dawn. This time he didn't hold back. He kissed her as passionately as he knew how. They pulled apart, both a little breathless.

"Wow," sighed Dawn.

"Wow yourself," smiled Matt.

He couldn't believe how lucky he'd been to find her. His smile faded as he remembered that he was AWOL from the military. He'd be jailed if they ever caught up with him.

"Matt? What's wrong?"

He pulled himself together, "Um, nothing, Dawn."

She fixed him with a 'look', reading him so well already.

"Just worrying about being able to stay, if the Army found me…"

"Is that all?" laughed Dawn.

"All?" replied Matt, "It's a pretty big problem, Dawn."

"Call that a problem? My sister is a super-strong Vampire Slayer who is in love with a vampire! Said vampire is going to be living under this roof unless I'm very much mistaken. Add to that, the fact that my sister's best friend is a very powerful witch and that Xander's last girlfriend was a thousand year old vengeance demon. Now those are problems. Keeping the Army away from you will be a piece of cake!"

She laughed at Matt's astonished face.

"What about Giles?" said Matt when he could speak.

"Oh, Giles is pretty much as normal as you can get around here, although his knowledge of demons and the occult is second to none. He was Buffy's official Watcher but now he's just part of the team."

"And you? What about you?" asked Matt, a touch nervously.

"Me?" said Dawn raising her eyebrows, "Oh, I'm the most ordinary of us all." _"There's no need to mention that I used to be a ball of energy that could open the portals of all dimensions and bring about the end of the world just yet."_

"You're not ordinary Dawn, you're amazing," said Matt, pulling her in for another kiss.

To be continued…..


	42. Aftermath

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Buffyverse.

Chapter Forty-Two

**Aftermath**

Giles stirred on the floor. The terrible pain he'd endured, seemingly forever, had faded away. He lifted his head and looked around, eyes squinting when the pain returned a little as he moved.

"Back with us, Giles?" a voice asked softly.

Giles focussed on the source of the sound.

"Spike," he said weakly.

"Yeah, mate, it's me."

Giles put his hand up to the area where the Lorac Bug had erupted. "So it's gone then?"

"It's gone."

"The pain…how did you endure it?" he asked.

"Same as you, I had no choice. Didn't have it as bad as you though, I slept for longer."

Giles struggled to his feet and sat in the nearest armchair.

"Spike, I…I…" he stuttered before breaking down into tears.

Spike shifted uncomfortably in his seat, unsure what to do or say to comfort him.

"Um…look…er…Giles, we know it was the Bug and not you so…er…just take it easy, okay?"

Giles got himself back in control and looked at Spike, "I tried not to obey, but I just couldn't." His voice broke, threatening to turn into sobs again.

"Shh, Giles," said Spike, desperately hoping he wouldn't cry again. "I know it's been horrible for you but you've got to try to get past it. You'll just torture yourself if you keep going over it."

"But it's so difficult. For days I was just a puppet, doing whatever that evil woman wanted."

"Try being like that for over a year," said Spike dryly.

"But you didn't know anything else. They'd blocked your memories – your will."

"And that's better because…?" snarled Spike.

"Um…I'm not saying this very well, am I?"

Spike shook his head.

"It's better because you didn't know what you were doing was wrong. I did but still had to do it," continued Giles.

"Yeah, I can see how losing my own identity, feeling permanently afraid but not knowing why and being regularly subjected to torture, is way better than having to do what one twisted bitch of a vampire said for a few days," growled Spike, face morphing into his demonic features.

"Vampire?" asked Giles incredulously, "Maggie was a vampire? But how? I saw her holding crosses – why didn't she burn?"

Spike's features faded back to human. "Did you ever see her without latex gloves on?"

Giles thought for a moment. "No, I didn't."

"There you go then," sneered Spike, "That's what made her so good at torturing vampires – she knew exactly what hurt the most."

Giles looked at him and swallowed hard. "I'm sorry Spike, you're right. Nothing I went through compares to what you suffered." He dropped his head, feeling ashamed.

"God, I bet it hurt to say that I'm right," said Spike with a grin, "Can you say it again a bit louder? Would you mind writing it down?"

Giles caught his eye and smiled weakly at him. "How can you joke?"

"What else can I do, Giles? If I thought about it for more than a minute at a time I'd dust myself. Fact is the only thing that keeps me going is Buffy, and, though I'll deny it if you repeat it, you guys too."

"Us?"

"Yeah, but say it and I'll bite you."

"You already have," said Giles, and with a bit of a smile he touched the mark on his neck.

"Nah, just closed the wound. I didn't have much of a taste," grinned Spike, "You'll be okay, Rupe, but…well…some of the others…are a bit…um…"

"Resentful?" supplied Rupert, "I know what Willow did, I heard. I don't blame her…that thing on her face…"

"They'll get over it."

"You're a good man, Spike."

Spike opened his mouth to reply, unable to believe what he'd just heard, when Willow shouted from the basement.

"Spike! She's awake, it's over."

He looked at Giles, "I'm going to go to see her but I'm going to have to tie you up again. You know the Bug could have a residual hold on you for the next twenty four hours."

"I understand, Spike." He walked over to the chair that he'd previously been tied to.

Spike struggled to his feet and limped over to him, then began tying his wrists to the chair's arms.

"Your leg, you got that protecting me," said Giles.

"Not entirely true," replied Spike, not wanting Giles to think he'd gone totally soft, "I did it for Buffy. She would never have gotten over it if she'd killed you."

He pulled the knot tight and limped out of the room. Giles sat and watched him leave. Had Spike always been capable of acting like that? Had he changed because of his ordeal in the Initiative? No, he'd protected Dawn with his life when Buffy was dead. Giles knew the answer – everything Spike did was governed by his total love for Buffy. He'd protect her and those she loved at all costs.

Ooooooo

"Spike." said Buffy as soon as she saw him. She held out her hand to him and this time he didn't keep out of her reach. Despite the possible danger he wrapped his arms around her.

"Oh Buffy, thank God. Are you okay?" He never knew how he managed to prevent himself from crying like a baby as he held her in his embrace.

"I'm okay Spike, I really am. I never felt a thing thanks to Willow. How's Giles?"

Spike caught Willow's eye; she looked at him imploringly then broke contact.

"Um, he's fine," said Spike as he watched Willow run up the stairs, "Let Matt and Dawn know it's over," he called after her.

She didn't reply but he soon heard her shouting for them to come downstairs. Spike turned his attentions back to Buffy. She reached out and touched his leg.

"Did my blood help you?"

"Everything you do helps me," he replied, and then he kissed her so tenderly that she had tears in her eyes when they parted.

"I love you, Spike."

To be continued….


	43. Newsflash

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot!

Chapter Forty-Three

**Newsflash**

Xander drove Giles' car to the hospital to get Spike's blood. He had barely gone a half-mile when he realised something was going down. There were army trucks everywhere. They were all going the same way – out of town.

When he got to the hospital he went to the basement where the blood supply was kept. He'd gotten to know the staff down there, figuring it was better to be given the expired blood than to keep stealing it.

"Hi, Xander," said a pretty brunette with a broad smile when she saw him. "Need more blood? You must be doing a lot of research experiments."

"Yeah, Kirsten, I do need more, thanks. Have you got any?" he cringed a little when she mentioned the research but it was the only cover story he could come up with to explain why he kept needing the blood.

"Sure. I'll just go get it."

Xander handed her the bag and she disappeared into the cold storage, returning moments later with it packed to capacity.

"So what's going on out there?" asked Xander, "There's army trucks all over the place. Are we being invaded?"

"Where have you been?" asked Kirsten.

"Been kind of busy in the…er…lab, why?"

"So you haven't seen the newsflash on the TV?"

"No, I haven't been near one for a few days. What's going on?"

"Apparently the military had a secret base here in Sunnydale and it was attacked by terrorists," replied Kirsten, "There was a massive fire but fortunately most of the soldiers got out."

"But why all the trucks?"

"They're moving out. The place has been sealed off. The damage was too great and I suppose there's no point in having a secret base if everyone knows where it is, is there?"

"I guess not," said Xander. _"My God, they did it. They really did it. The Initiative is no more."_ "Huh?" he realised that Kirsten was talking to him.

"I was saying that it wasn't terrorists, was it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think it was…something else? Something like what you get the blood for?"

"What do you mean?" repeated Xander stupidly.

"Come on, do you think I've managed to work here for three years and not see a vampire or two stealing the blood?"

Xander blinked.

She laughed at him. "I might have thought you were a vampire but for the fact you've got a decent tan and I've seen you stand in direct sunlight."

"But? How did you..?" stuttered Xander.

"Did a bit of research of my own after I saw my first one. This keeps me safe," said Kirsten, pulling out an ornate silver cross hanging from a chain beneath the neck of her uniform. "I've been a nurse for a few years now and we see all sorts of strange things hanging about the hospital."

Xander's mind was reeling, both from what Kirsten was saying and the fact that the Initiative was moving out. "I'm really sorry, Kirsten, but I've got to go," he said, taking the bag from her.

She held onto its strap, "So is this for a vampire? Have you got one as some sort of a pet?" she joked.

"A vampire – yes," said Xander, "But he's sure ain't a pet!"

"Why are you helping a vampire? They're evil."

Xander thought of Spike trying to save Dawn from Doc and the way time and again he'd helped them, even though he and Giles made no secret of the fact that they didn't like him.

"Not Spike, he's not evil. He's the exception that proves the rule."

Ooooooo

Xander burst into the house flinging the door wide open in his haste.

"Turn on the TV!" he cried.

Dawn jumped up and turned it on. "What channel?"

"The news channel."

They didn't have long to wait before the programme returned to the main story.

"Spike! You've got to see this!" shouted Matt.

Spike was in the basement still holding Buffy in his arms and made no move to go.

"Sounds important, Spike," said Buffy, pulling out of his embrace, "You'd better go."

"'S okay, they can tell me," he replied.

"No. You go and see what they want and then you can tell me." Buffy's voice was firm.

"Oh, alright then," he sighed, and he limped up to the lounge.

He spotted the discarded bag full of blood on the floor and snagged a couple as he walked by. He leant on the doorframe.

"What's this about?" he asked, nicking the first bag and starting to drink.

"Look," said Dawn, pointing to the TV and increasing the volume.

The newsreader took on a suitably grave demeanour as he began to speak.

"We have just received confirmation of the names of those missing presumed dead. Their next of kin have been informed and our sympathies are with the bereaved families. The death toll is mercifully low considering what a terrible atrocity has occurred. Those who have lost their lives are, Graham Maitland, Andrew Goldsmith, Matthew Wood, Michael Maguire, Charles Taylor and Bradley Shorter."

Matt gasped as his name was read out. He was officially dead and that meant he was free. He closed his eyes thinking of Graham and Charlie; they were the two soldiers that had been guarding the control room.

"_God, I killed them as surely as if I'd put a bullet in their heads."_

That shook him to the core. No matter that Charlie had been scarily enthusiastic in assisting with the torture of the captives. He'd had a habit of doing his own thing on the night shift, but he still didn't deserve that.

They started to show photographs of the deceased. When Charles Taylor's picture was shown everyone was startled by Spike's ferocious growl. They all looked at him. He was rigid, demonic features on show, amber eyes blazing with intensity.

"Spike, what's wrong?" asked Xander, thinking he'd never seen Spike look so terrifying.

"It's Charlie, isn't it?" said Matt softly, reaching for the remote control in Dawn's hands and turning the TV off.

Spike remained there, quivering with rage for several seconds after the screen went blank. Then his features faded back to human.

"The bastard," he said quietly, "He was the worst."

"What do you mean?" asked Willow.

"He worked to his own agenda in there, Willow," Matt said quickly, eyes on Spike who still looked like he could explode, "He was a total psycho. The Initiative gave him plenty of opportunity to hurt those who couldn't answer back and that nobody would have cared about it if they had."

Spike closed his eyes as unwanted, unwelcome images filled his mind. He didn't realise that his features had vamped up. He gripped the doorframe so hard that the wood creaked as it split.

_"Which was the worst? The first time it happened or every other time when you knew what was coming?"_

Ooooooo

The middle of the night and Spike was sitting at the back of his cell; it was just after his speech had been taken away. He looked up as one of the soldiers stopped at the door.

"_No. 17," said Charlie Taylor._

_Spike struggled to his feet as his conditioning demanded. His head was still sore from the programming the day before. He swayed slightly and put a hand on the wall to steady himself._

"_Yes, you'll do just fine," smiled Charlie, "Maggie's hoping you'll be her best subject so far. I wonder if you'll be mine?"_

_Spike just stared at him, not liking the way he was looking at him. The cell door slid open and Charlie stepped inside. Spike's sensitive nostrils were suddenly filled with a scent that horrified him – the other man's desire. He vamped up his features and tried to growl but no sound came out. He lunged at the soldier knowing the chip would fire but too desperate to care._

_He got just two strides before he was hit by a short blast from a tazer. It knocked him off his feet and left him unable to do more than weakly move his limbs. As Charlie approached he tried frantically to move but couldn't._

"_Save your energy, demon," sneered Charlie, "You won't be able to move properly for at least a half hour. That will give me plenty of time."_

_He reached for the zip on his pants. Spike redoubled his efforts to move._

"_Keep freaking still," said Charlie as he kicked Spike viciously between the legs._

_The pain was so great that Spike almost blacked out but as he was flipped over and his face came into contact with the cold tiled floor, he came to._

_He wished he hadn't. Soon the pain of Charlie's attentions joined those caused by the kick._

_The assault lasted for fifteen minutes. The soldier turned Spike back over, laughing at the vampire's discomfort - the look in its eyes and the way it was panting. It always turned him on when he got a vampire to pant like that - it meant he'd really got to it. He wondered if he had time to go again? But he just kicked Spike in the ribs instead. _

"_See you soon, No. 17. I think Maggie was right, I think you are going to be special."_

_Spike lay there helpless for another twenty minutes or so. When he could finally move he dragged himself into a corner and huddled there, knees drawn up to his chest, rocking slightly to and fro. He tried not to look at the smear of blood he'd left on the floor. He tried to ignore the pain._

_As the programming of the chip became more sophisticated Charlie could abuse Spike without having to resort to the tazer blast. Simply by ordering Spike to cooperate Charlie could do anything he liked to him and frequently did. Unlike Maggie, he never ordered Spike to forget._

Ooooooo

Spike's eyes flew open as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He took two quick steps backwards, crying out in pain as he put too much weight on his right leg.

"Hey, Spike, it's okay it's me – Matt," soothed the young man.

"Uh…?"

Spike looked around. Everyone was staring at him. Matt looked at Spike's face and suddenly realised that the rumours he'd heard about Charlie not just torturing the captives had been true.

"Oh, Christ." he whispered so low that only Spike could hear him.

Spike held his gaze for a moment, accurately guessing Matt's thoughts. He looked away, shame written all over his face, and limped silently out of the room.

"What's got into him?" asked Xander.

"Charlie used to …torture the demons when he was on the night shift. It's pretty clear that Spike was one of them," replied Matt, not feeling quite so bad at having a hand in Charlie's death after all. Spike was one of the good guys and Charlie the bad.

Oooooo

Spike went to the only place where he knew his pain would lessen. He went to Buffy. She looked at his stricken face but he wouldn't meet her eye.

"Spike, what is it?" she asked.

Wordlessly he just wrapped his arms around her and clung to her, burying his face in her shoulder. Letting her scent banish the remembered ones.

"God, you're trembling. What's happened?"

"We did it. It's closed down," he whispered hoarsely.

Buffy tightened her hug around her lover who was still shaking uncontrollably.

"Shh, Spike, it's okay. It's over, no one will ever hurt you again."

To be continued…….


	44. Happy Ever After For now

Universal Vampire

By Mabel Marsters

Disclaimer: I know they're not mine and for now I've finished with them!!

Thanks to Carol for her excellent beta work!

Chapter Forty-Four

**Happy Ever After (For Now...)**

It was two days after they heard of the Initiative's total withdrawal from Sunnydale and life was starting to get back to what, for the Scoobies, passed as normal. Amazingly Spike's limp was almost gone; mind you, he had made short work of the blood that Xander had got for him. Xander was delighted to go and get him some more as that meant he'd get to see Kirsten again.

Spike walked into the basement looking for Matt.

"Hey, Matt," he said as he saw him tidying the covers of the cot that now served as his bed.

"Spike, hi. Your leg looks a lot better."

"Yeah it is, thanks," replied Spike, "Look, I…want to thank you for the other day."

"What did I do?" asked Matt puzzled.

Spike turned away looking across to the other side of the basement as he spoke. "You…er…didn't tell the others what that bastard did to me," he whispered.

Matt's heart went out to him. "'S okay, and I never will."

Spike nodded a couple of times and Matt heard him swallow hard before he turned to face him again.

"Right, well…Dawn." said Spike in a stronger voice.

"What about Dawn?" asked Matt.

"Sit down."

Matt sat on the bed and Spike pulled a stool across to sit facing him.

"What are your intentions?" Spike continued.

"My what?" said Matt, somewhat taken aback.

"Your intentions, mate. I know you two are getting close. I need to know what you plan on doing if you're going to be one of us," said Spike seriously.

"I…um…well…I really like her."

"I know that part. And?"

"I'm kind of young to be thinking of intentions," said Matt, "I think she's amazing. I feel like I've known her for years, not just a few days."

"She's younger than you," Spike pointed out.

"Not by as much as the difference between you and Buffy," said Matt with a smile.

"I'm not talking about Buffy," said Spike firmly, "I'm talking about you and the Niblet."

"I know she's young but I can wait, Spike. I want to wait. There'll be no pressure on her if that's what's worrying you. I won't hurt her, Spike. I think I love her. I know I do," he said sincerely.

Spike's face split into a grin.

"That's alright then." He got up and started to leave.

"Spike," said Matt, "Have I just had the 'watch your step with my kid sister' speech from a vampire?"

Spike burst out laughing.

"Yeah Matt, you have! And just you remember that my bite is much worse than my bark!" he said, showing his demonic features. He laughed even louder as he saw Matt's face pale. "Don't worry mate, you're family now. I hardly ever eat family."

Matt was still shaking his head in amusement as Spike left and Dawn arrived.

"What are you two laughing at?"

"Nothing, Dawnie," he said, embracing her and soundly kissing her. "Just making sure I was settling in okay."

"And are you?"

"Yeah, I think finally I've got me a proper home."

Ooooooo

As Spike walked into the kitchen, Willow hurried out.

"Red?"

She stopped and reluctantly turned to face Spike. Her eyes were huge.

"You keep avoiding me. We can't carry on like this, now can we pet?" he said gently.

"I just…"

"Look, Red, you were angry. I get that. I know you regret it now so can we just get back to how we were? Buffy knows something's not right between us. I don't want her worrying, okay?"

He held his hand out to her; she took it tentatively, as always slightly shocked by how cold it was. Spike pulled her into a hug and she promptly burst into tears.

"Bloody hell, Red, I'm trying to make you feel better, not worse."

"I am feeling better," she sniffed. "I'm so sorry."

"Told you before, Red, it's not me you need to be aiming that apology at," he said softly, "Go and see him today. You'll get no peace until you do. Giles will forgive you, pet."

He could feel her nod before she moved out of his arms.

"I will. I'll go now."

She went to get her coat. Giles had moved back into his own apartment the evening before.

Ooooooo

Spike looked at his watch. The Slayer was sleeping late this morning. He smiled as he recalled their lovemaking last night. He climbed the stairs and made his way to their room – their room – he could still hardly believe it.

"Thought you'd never come back to bed," said Buffy.

"Were you waiting for me, love?"

"Still am. Less talking - more kissing." She pulled the bedcovers back revealing her naked body.

Spike, although room temperature, suddenly felt hot.

"That I can do."

He stripped his clothes off faster than Buffy thought possible and climbed onto the bed, crawling along until he was over her body. His lips met hers and they lost themselves totally in each other.

Buffy delighted in how Spike seemed so astonished as she worked to make sure he reached the same heady heights that she did. She adored his expression when she told him she loved him. It was as if he couldn't believe it even though she said it over and over again.

At one point, as they were looking into each other's eyes, he went still. He was remembering the horrible void he saw behind Maggie's eyes.

"What do you see?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you look into my eyes, what do you see?" he asked seriously.

She knew he wasn't looking for a jokey answer, he was looking for the truth. So she told him.

"I see love, faithfulness, compassion and trust."

"Do you? Do you really? But I haven't got a soul. How can you see those things in me? I'm evil."

"You're not evil, Spike. Your demon might be when you unleash it but you control it, not the other way around. To be able to do that means you're a beautiful, extraordinary man and that's what I see when I look into your baby blues."

She kissed away the tear that escaped from his eye. "Now where were we?"

She squealed as he promptly reminded her!

**The End**

**Authors note:** If you've enjoyed this fic please let me know and keep and eye out for my new one, which will be an all human AU story. If you showed your support by voting for it at Sunnyd awards, the Spark and Burn awards and the Spuffy awards I'd really appreciate it! Thanks for reading:)


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